Image Credit: The Museum of the City of New York
Translation:
How to become a citizen of the United States.
To become a citizen of the United States, a foreigner must be in the country for five years and the last five years reside in the city in which he will become a citizen.
If one has the urge at a time to undertake an old citizen, one should go to the courthouse to make a declaration. Then, one will become a citizen. The courthouse will take papers, which are called “declaration papers.” When someone makes the declaration, they assert to all other governments that they will be faithful and support the constitution of the United States.
When one who will become a citizen has lived three years in the country and became 21 years old, he can apply to become declared when he has continually lived in the United States for an entire five years.
A witness must be present, who has actually experienced five years in the country, and the one who brought together the whole time.
When a family man makes the declaration and pushes one to come to the courthouse when he needs to become a citizen, his wife and children can become citizens on the same declaration papers. Then they go through the same formula, which the deceased man and father went through.
That a family man becomes a citizen, becomes through his wife and children, also citizens.
Then, how one becomes a citizen, one has the right to vote, four legislators, senators, representatives, which the people count on to select.
When time comes for a judge to take out the citizenship papers, one must pass an exam. The judge asks the citizenship candidate questions, and one must know the correct answers to all the questions.
We give here the questions which the judge usually poses and the translations, what the citizenship-candidate has to answer.
Research:
This text is two pages of a guide to becoming an American citizen, published by the Naturalization Bureau in New York City, located at 25 Chambers Street. As this text is in Yiddish, New York City must have been experiencing a surge of immigrants from Eastern Europe at the time this document was published; the Museum of the City of New York’s website specifies that this document was used by Yiddish-speaking immigrants to New York from 1897-1906.
This text was quite difficult to translate because of both the scan’s low resolution and the copious amount of “הs” in the middle of many words (usually after a vowel), rendering some words unrecognizable. Perhaps a more advanced Yiddish speaker could provide a more accurate translation of the text.
There is not much information available about the history of the Naturalization Bureau. However, a report on alleged New York election fraud gives a brief history of the Bureau and its role in New York City. This report calls the building at 25 Chambers Street home to “a republican naturalization committee…organized for the purpose of aiding applicants for naturalization in getting their papers.” This concise description explains the various mentions of “declaration papers” in the text. The report also adds that “the committee refused to employ any professional witnesses.” This aspect is also alluded to in the guide, when it explains that the candidate for citizenship must provide a witness.
Currently, the building at 25 Chambers Street seems to house the Surrogate’s Court of New York County. The building’s primary function is to serve “the estates of individuals who were domiciled in New York County…at the time of their death,” according to its website. While the building no longer works with matters of citizenship, it still functions as a place to store records for citizens of New York City.
Sources:
New York State Unified Court System. “Surrogate’s Court, New York County.” NYCOURTS.GOV, http://ww2.nycourts.gov/courts/1jd/surrogates/index.shtml.
U.S. Government Printing Office. Report of the Select Committee on Alleged New York Election Frauds. 1869.
