The 1790 Naturalization law determined that "free white persons" could naturalize after two years of residency, and established that the children of citizens would also be citizens. Soon after, in 1795, Congress extended the residency period to five years, and in 1798 extended the residency requirement even further, to fourteen years.
Pratheepan Gulasekaram, The New Immigration Federalism
1790, 1795, 1798, american-history, immigration-law, naturalization, racism, racism-in-america, us-citizenship