TO THE HONOURABLE THE JUDGES OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF COSHOCTON. YOUR PETITIONER JOHN H. HUTCHINSON RESPECTFULLY REPRESENTS UNTO YOUR HONORS THAT BY BIRTH HE IS A SUBJECT OF HIS MAJESTY GEORGE THE FOURTH KING OF THE UNITED KINGDOMS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, THAT IT IS HIS WISH AT THIS TIME TO BECOME A NATURALIZED CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES, THAT HE WAS RESIDING WITHIN THE LIMITS AND UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES BETWEEN THE FIRST DAY OF AUGUST 1822, AND THE TWENTY THIRD DAY OF NOVEMBER 1826, THAT HE HAS RESIDED WITH THE LIMITS OF THIS STATE MORE THAN ONE YEAR PRECEDING THIS APPLICATION. ALSO THAT HE RENOUNCES FOREVER ALL ALLEGIANCE AND FIDELITY TO EVERY FOREIGN PRINCE, POTENTATE, STATE AND SO

Single leaf, 7-1/4" x 12-1/4." Entirely in manuscript. Folded for docketing: "John H. Hutchinson | Declaration of Intention | to become a Citizen &c. | Filed November 23 1826. Common Please Record No. 31 of November Term 1826 Recorded." Light wear, a few fold splits [repaired with archival tape]. Very Good. The Constitution grants Congress the power to enact uniform laws of naturalization. Hutchinson's application was governed by the Naturalization Act of 1802, which required the applicant to be of the Caucasian persuasion; of good moral character; a resident in the United States for five years; and to declare, at least three years in advance, his intent to become a U.S. citizen. This manuscript document was Hutchinson's declaration of intention, to be followed by the later prescribed applications. Before the 1802 Act, Nativists had succeeded in requiring a 14-year residency in the U.S. as a precondition to citizenship. John H. Hutchinson [1800-1870], born in Ireland, immigrated to the United States as a young man, worked as a tailor, and then took up farming. He became Sheriff of Coshocton County 1833-1837. He married Abigail Phillips [1804-1889] who was related to the New Jersey Harts, including John Hart, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Only in America.…