Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton, (1757-1804) American statesman, Secretary of the Treasury

Alexander Hamilton Quote

“[T]here is a wide difference between closing the door altogether and throwing it entirely open; between a postponement of fourteen years and an immediate admission to all the rights of citizenship. Some reasonable term ought to be allowed to enable aliens to get rid of foreign and acquire American attachments; to learn the principles and imbibe the spirit of our government; and to admit of at least a probability of their feeling a real interest in our affairs.”

Alexander HamiltonAlexander Hamilton
~ Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton, The Examination, No. 8 (January 1802).

Ratings and Comments


E Archer, NYC

Sort of like natural born citizens attending school for 14 years to learn how to live in American society.  But the term is getting shorter and the education has turned into a racket, such that the American constitutional republic is being colonized by  authoritarian statists to which all are beholden to submit and must provide tribute for their own security.  Today, hoards of poor immigrants demand entry and subsistence from day one with no declaration to adopt the ways of an American sovereign, indeed to bring in their form of servitude instead.

Mike, Norwalk

Couching most everything in a collectivist stint with a statist overview, Hamilton was not the greatest friend of or to individual sovereignty, personal liberty or inalienable rights. By way of example, his here statement "admission to all the rights of citizenship". There are NO! ! ! rights associated with citizenship  all rights are inherent in the being as a faculty of birth. Citizenship does afford certain practical advantages but rights, are not one of them. In the same way, today's progressive collectivists are misusing the term right. By example, the collectivists are saying voting is a right. Voting is not a right! ! !  A right is individualistic in nature (the right to protect one's self, the freedom to speak, etc.), a vote is a democratic process in administration of the whole.

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