Would We Thought of Immigration the Way the Founding Fathers did

We look at things differently and handle immigration differently than they did back in the early days of our country. I wish we followed closer to their pattern. The first laws on naturalization? They made no restriction on who could come, nor did they require permission to come. Rather, they dictated that a person once he (or she) arrived had to stay here a certain number of years before being granted citizenship. It was as if the founding fathers were saying, We're not going to give you citizenship until you prove you are not going to leave. This is quite a flip from what we do today. Instead of requiring them to stay, we do the opposite and deport them. Why would the founding fathers want the immigrant to prove he was going to stick around before granting him citizenship? I'm guessing it was because they didn't want them to have U.S. citizenship if they weren't living in this country. In the eyes of the founding fathers, citizenship was for those with their feet on American soil -- those who were living here.
Here's the point: The Constitution set the pattern for the way immigration was practiced in the early days of the country. The first laws reflected what the Constitution said.
In the Constitution, when it speaks of naturalization, it speaks of just that, no more. The founding fathers could have used the words "migration" or "immigration," but instead chose the word "naturalization" Thus, the Constitution gave authority over naturalization, not immigration. Says the Constitution, "The Congress shall have Power . . . To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization." Thus, Congress was not given power over migration or immigration. It was not given power to say who could and could not come -- only power to naturalize them after they arrived.
And,so it is, our use of the term "citizen" has a different bearing than what it did in the early days of our country. Our understanding of who should be granted citizenship greatly differs from the beliefs and practices of the founding fathers, and is at odds with what the Constitution mandates.

Note: Blog revised 4/15/18