Originally posted on Quora October 14, 2021
5 answers and not one of them have any factual or relevant information. When Thomas Jefferson wrote “all men are created equal” in the DOI the obvious historical context was free white men (as opposed to those in indentured servitude). Why else would they pass the 1790 immigration and naturalization act which stipulated that only free white people of good repute could become citizens.
that any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof, on application to any common law court of record, in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such court, that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to support the Constitution of the United States
Their preference for white only immigration was enforced for the first 175 years of the U.S. Constitution. It’s only been about 55 years (within the lifetime of all boomers) since people from non-white European countries, especially Asians, have been allowed to become naturalized U.S. Citizens.
They not only believed in white only citizenship they made it a point to exclude other races that already resided in the U.S. from earning citizenship. That's why Amerindians weren't granted citizenship until 1924 and free blacks until 1870. The founding fathers never intended for either race to assimilate into American society. Even the ones that eventually wanted to abolish slavery thought freed blacks should be relocated to their own ethnostate in an effort called recolonization. The West African country of Liberia is a result of the American colonization society sending free blacks back to Africa to form their own country (of course some also went to Haiti).