As Americans commemorate Independence Day, a critical historical phrase merits retention in our collective memory: “1 year and 9 months.” This temporal marker, reiterated for emphasis, holds profound significance for future discourse on the nation’s foundational principles. Its relevance emerges from a meticulous examination of America’s legal and constitutional evolution, a narrative that challenges conventional understandings of citizenship and rights.
The story begins in 1607, when the first British settlers established the Jamestown Settlement in the Commonwealth of Virginia. For the subsequent 183 years, until March 26, 1790, all colonial inhabitants were subjects of the British Crown, devoid of citizenship. This distinction is pivotal: subjects, unlike citizens, lacked representation. The rallying cry “No taxation without representation” encapsulates this grievance—subjects had no mechanism to address grievances against their sovereign, whereas citizens in a republic enjoy legislative advocacy through their elected representatives.
A notable detour occurs on July 7, 1753, 37 years prior to George Washington’s signing of the Naturalization Act of 1790. The British Parliament, with royal assent, enacted the Jewish Naturalization Act of 1753, extending naturalization to jews across Britain and its vast colonies. Yet, in the American colonies, Crown subjects remained voiceless, fueling the pre-revolutionary discontent over unrepresented taxation.
Fast forward to December 15, 1791, when the Bill of Rights was ratified, embedding the first ten amendments into the U.S. Constitution. Prior to this, the Constitution offered no enumerated protection for the natural rights of American citizens. However, 1 year and 9 months earlier, on March 26, 1790, a transformative event occurred: President Washington and the First Congress passed the Naturalization Act of 1790. This legislation defined an American as a “free white person of good moral character,” establishing the initial criteria for citizenship.
This timeline bears critical implications. For 1 year and 9 months, newly minted citizens—freed from monarchical subjugation—operated without the constitutional safeguards later provided by the Bill of Rights. The sequence suggests that the Constitution and its amendments were initially crafted to protect the rights of free white men of good character. This historical clarity, derived from the precise dating of legislative acts, invites a reevaluation of the intended scope of America’s founding documents.
As debates on identity, representation, and rights persist, the phrase “1 year and 9 months” serves as a lens to scrutinize the origins of American citizenship and WHO is an American. The interplay between the 1790 Naturalization Act and the 1791 Bill of Rights underscores a deliberate framework, challenging us to consider the evolving interpretation of liberty in the United States.
The 1790 Naturalization Act’s European only bias lasted until 1965 with the ratification of the Hart-Celler Act which Rush has so eloquently explain in his blog post “A Lie by Hart-Celler: Suicidal Empathy Destruction of a Nation” here on ethnicamerican.org.
Remember. 1 year and 9 months lasted between the Act signed into Law by President George Washington (March 26, 1790) and the ratifying of the American Bill of Rights (December 15, 1791).
An Ethnic American was defined before our rights were enumerated.
1 year and 9 months
By James Sewell @Jamestown_Son
13th generation Ethnic American – 1619 Jamestown
written on July 4th, 2025
We have been fighting for our Western European identity and heritage since time immemorial, it seems!
Thank you James, for revealing the timeline of our Constitutional Republic definition of WHO IS an American to the forefront.
Our Truth cannot be buried when it wields infallible language with such authenticity and clarity.
I hear so many people in spaces now talking about the 1790 Naturalization Act but no one ever brings up that it was written into law 1 year and 9 months BEFORE the Bill of Rights was ratified. It changes the entire argument of what an American is.
It was established as law BEFORE our Constitutional Rights were even ratified. So, when those rights were enumerated for “Americans” we already had a definition of what an American was.
A Free White person of good moral character.
Thanks for the kind words Liesel