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| Long title | An Act for Naturalizing such foreign Protestants and others therein mentioned, as are settled or shall settle in any of His Majesty's Colonies in America. |
|---|---|
| Citation | 13 Geo. 2. c. 7 |
| Territorial extent | British America |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 19 March 1740 |
| Commencement | 1 June 1740 |
| Repealed | 12 May 1870 |
| Other legislation | |
| Amended by |
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| Repealed by | Naturalization Act 1870 |
Status: Repealed | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Plantation Act 1740 (referring to colonies) or the Naturalization Act 1740[1] are common names[2][3] used for an act of the British Parliament (13 Geo. 2. c. 7) that was officially titled An Act for Naturalizing such foreign Protestants and others therein mentioned, as are settled or shall settle in any of His Majesty's Colonies in America.
The Act became effective on 1 June 1740 and allowed any Protestant alien residing in any of their American colonies for seven years, without being absent from that colony for more than two months, to be deemed "his Majesty’s natural-born subjects of this Kingdom."
The Act also required making specific declarations concerning royal allegiance and succession, profession of the Christian faith, and the payment of two shillings. Compared to other alternatives available at the time, the Act provided a cheap and easy method of imperial naturalization, and the length of residency was not unreasonable.[4]
- ^ The act received royal assent in 1740. However, it was formally dated as 1739 in older official uses because acts passed before the Acts of Parliament (Commencement) Act 1793 came into force, acts were dated by the year in which the relevant parliamentary session began, which, in this case, was 1739.
- ^ Michael Lemay, Elliott Robert Barkan, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Laws and Issues: A Documentary History Archived 5 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine, pp 6-9. (1999)
- ^ Historical Timeline, History of Legal and Illegal Immigration to the United States, 1607-1799
- ^ Clive Parry, British Nationality Law and the History of Naturalisation, Milano, Giuffrè (1954)