States, and to renounce all allegiance and fidelity to every foreign prince or State. It is also necessary that he shall have resided in the United States five years at least prior to his application, and in the State or territory where he then resides, at least one year, and that during that time he has behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same. The applicant is not allowed to prove his residence by his own oath; but he must bring forward witnesses to the fact, who are citizens of the United States.

§ 243. Children of persons duly naturalized, who are under twenty-one years of age at the time of their parents being naturalized, are, if dwelling in the United States, considered as citizens of the United States. Persons born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, whose fathers were or shall be citizens at the time of their birth, are, by an act of Congress, declared to be citizens of the United States; but the right of citizenship thus acquired, cannot descend to persons whose fathers never resided in the United States. Any woman who might lawfully be naturalized under the existing laws, who is married to a citizen, shall be deemed and taken to be a citizen. If an alien dies after his declaration of intention, but before he is actually naturalized, his widow and children shall be considered as citizens of the United States, and shall be entitled to all the privileges as such, upon taking the oath prescribed by law.

§ 244. Aliens, in applying to become citizens, are obliged to renounce any hereditary title or order of no- bility which they may have possessed, or may become entitled to, in the country from which they have emigrated.

§ 245 This clause also invests Congress with the power to establish uniform rules on the subject of bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy and insolvency both arise from inability on the part of a debtor to pay his debts. But there is a differ ence between a bankrupt law and an insolvent law. The former applies to merchants and traders, and discharges the bankrupt from all responsibility for his debts, so that the property acquired by him after his bankruptcy cannot be seized by a former creditor. An insolvent law merely protects the person of the debtor, leaving any property he may acquire afterward, liable to be seized for the old debt. § 246. During the Confederation, the power to establish laws on the subject of bankruptcy was vested in the several States. By the Constitution it is transferred to Congress, because it is closely connected with the regulation of commerce, and because the bankrupts themselves, and their property, may be in different States. If the States were permitted to legislate on the subject at the same time with Congress, much confusion and injustice would ensue from the differences in their enactments.

§ 247. But it has been held that the power of Congress is not exclusive, and that when it is not actually exercised by the national legislature, the States may pass bankrupt laws. Those laws, however, cannot discharge persons from contracts made prior to their passage, and they only extend to contracts made within the State between citizens of the same State. When a general bankrupt law is passed by Congress, this right of the States is suspended, and the State laws become inoperative.

$248. Congress exercised the power granted in this clause, by the passage of a bankrupt law, April 4, 1800, which was repealed December 19, 1803. A second bankupt law was passed August 19, 1841, and repealed March

3, 1843. At present there is no national bankrupt law in force.

[Clause 5.] "To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures."

§ 249. The power to coin money, and fix the standard of weights and measures, was vested in the Congress by the Articles of Confederation. The same power is conferred upon Congress by the Constitution, with the additional right to regulate the value of foreign coin. These powers are granted to Congress for the convenience of commerce, in order that uniform regulations may exist in all the States. Money is coined at the mint of the United States.

§ 250. The officers of the mint are, the director, who has the control and management of the mint, the superintendence of the persons employed therein, and the general regulation of the business of the branches; the treasurer, who keeps all moneys and accounts of the mint, and has charge of all bullion and coin in the mint; the assayer, who assays all metals used in coinage; the melter and refiner, who executes all operations which are necessary, in order to form ingots of standard silver and gold, suitable for the chief coiner, who forms the coins, according to the law, from the silver and gold ingots and the copper planchets, legally delivered to him for the purpose; the engraver, who prepares and engraves the legal devices and inscriptions, and the dies used in the coinage of the mint.

§ 251. Prior to the establishment of a mint under the Constitution, there was no national institution in which coins were struck by the United States. In 1792, a mint establishment for the United States was authorized by Congress for the purpose of national coinage, to be carried

on at the seat of government for the time being. The seat of government at that time was Philadelphia; but since its removal to Washington, the mint has been continued at Philadelphia in virtue of special acts of Congress.

§ 252. It is lawful for any person to take to the mint uncoined gold or silver, in order to have it coined, and the metal so brought is there assayed and coined as speedily as may be after the receipt thereof, and, if of the standard of the United States, free of expense to the person by whom it has been taken. But the treasurer of the mint is not obliged to receive, for the purpose of refining and coining, any deposite of less value than one hundred dollars, nor any metal so base as to be unsuitable for minting.

§ 253. Although the mint of the United States is located. at Philadelphia, branch mints have been established at Charlotte, North Carolina; at Dahlonega, Georgia; at New Orleans, Louisiana; at San Francisco, California; and an assay, melting, and refining office at New York.

§ 254. Congress has passed several acts declaring the value at which foreign coins shall be estimated, but has not, as yet, enacted any law fixing the standard of weights and measures. The States have legislated for themselves upon that subject, or have continued in use the standards existing at the time of the adoption of the federal Constitution. The weights and measures used in the States are generally the same as those of England.

[Clause 6.] "To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States."

§ 255. This power is necessary, in order to carry into effect successfully the provisions of the preceding clause,

since it would be vain to coin money without having authority to punish those who counterfeit it. Congress has passed many severe laws against those who falsify, lighten, or counterfeit the coin of the United States; and any officer of the mint who shall fraudulently debase the fineness or diminish the weight of any of the gold or silver coins of the United States, is liable to heavy fine and imprisonment.

[Clause 7.] "To establish Post Offices and post Roads."

§ 256. Posts appear to have been established for the first time in modern Europe in 1479, by Louis XI. of France. They were originally intended to serve merely for the conveyance of public despatches and of persons travelling by authority of government. Subsequently, however, private individuals were allowed to avail themselves of them for forwarding letters and despatches. The post-office was not established in England till the seventeenth century. Postmasters had, indeed, existed in more ancient times, but their business was confined to the furnishing of post-horses to persons who were desirous of travelling expeditiously, and to the despatching of extraordinary packets upon special occasions.

§ 257. In 1635, Charles I. erected a letter-office for England and Scotland; but it extended only to a few of the principal roads, and did not succeed. During the civil wars, Edward Prideaux, attorney-general for the common.. wealth, instituted a post-office for the weekly conveyance of letters to all parts of the kingdom. In 1657, the postoffice was established nearly on its present footing.

§ 258. The regularity and precision necessary to the satisfactory workings of a post-office in the United States, could scarcely be obtained otherwise than by the agency of the general government, for the mails would have to be