United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind facts for kids
Quick facts for kids United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind |
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| Argued January 11–12, 1923 Decided February 19, 1923 |
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| Full case name | United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind |
| Citations | 261 U.S. 204 (more)
43 S. Ct. 338; 67 L. Ed. 616; 1923 U.S. LEXIS 2544
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| Prior history | In re Thind, 268 F. 683 (D. Or. 1920) |
| Holding | |
| People of Indian descent are not white, and hence are not eligible for naturalization. | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Sutherland, joined by unanimous |
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Superseded by
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| Luce-Celler Act of 1946 | |
The case of United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind was a very important decision made by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1923. The Court decided that Bhagat Singh Thind, a man from India who followed the Sikh religion, could not become a naturalized citizen of the United States. Naturalized citizenship means becoming a citizen of a country you weren't born in.
In 1919, Thind asked to become a citizen under a law called the Naturalization Act of 1906. This law only allowed "free white persons" and "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent" to become U.S. citizens.
Even though Thind's request was first approved, government lawyers tried to cancel his citizenship. They argued that Thind was involved with the Ghadar Party, a group that wanted India to be independent. Thind did not say the law was unfair because of race. Instead, he tried to prove he was a "free white person" because he believed people from India and Europe shared a common background from ancient times.
Thind was helped by another Indian American lawyer named Sakharam Ganesh Pandit. The Supreme Court did not agree with Thind. They said he did not fit the "common sense" idea of what a white person was. They also said that the word "Aryan" was about languages, not about physical looks or race. So, Thind could not become a citizen at that time.
Contents
Bhagat Singh Thind's Journey to Citizenship
Bhagat Singh Thind came to the United States in 1913 to study more after finishing college in India. He joined the United States Army and became a Sergeant. He served in World War I and was honorably discharged, meaning he left the army with a very good record.
Thind was granted citizenship in Washington state in July 1918, but it was taken away just four days later. He received citizenship again in Oregon in November 1920. The government tried to stop him, but they failed in the Oregon court. This is how his case ended up at the Supreme Court. There, Sakharam Ganesh Pandit, a lawyer from California who was also an immigrant, represented Thind.
Thind's Arguments in Court
Thind argued that languages spoken in parts of India, called Indo-Aryan languages, were like the languages spoken in Europe. He pointed out that many European languages, including English, are similar to Indo-Aryan languages like Hindi. This showed a connection between them.
A previous court case, Ozawa v. United States, had decided that "white people" meant people of the Caucasian race. So, Thind argued that he was a white person because he was part of the Caucasian race. He used many books and experts on human groups to say that people from Punjab and other parts of Northwestern India were part of the "Aryan race." He also said that these "Aryans" were classified as Caucasian.
Thind's lawyers also argued that even though some mixing happened between different groups in India, the caste system mostly kept groups separate. They claimed that because Thind was "high-caste, of full Indian blood," he was a "Caucasian" according to the ideas of that time. His lawyers even said that Thind would not want to marry an Indian woman from a "lower race." This was meant to show that Thind was like white Americans who supported laws against people of different races marrying.
The Supreme Court's Decision
Justice George Sutherland wrote the main opinion for the Court. He said that experts disagreed on who belonged to the scientific definition of the Caucasian race. So, he decided to use the "common understanding" of race instead of the scientific one.
Justice Sutherland found that even though Thind might have "pure Aryan blood" from his birthplace in Punjab, he was not Caucasian in the "common understanding." Therefore, he could not be called a "white person" under the law.
The Court repeated what it said in the Ozawa v. United States case. They explained that the words "free white person" in the naturalization law meant what people commonly understood, not what scientists might say. Justice Sutherland wrote that the law was "written in the common speech, for common understanding, by unscientific men."
He also mentioned that while some parts of India had people who tried to keep their "racial purity," mixing did happen. He said that the "Aryan" blood might have changed over time. The Court also concluded that the word "Aryan" was about language, not about physical traits. So, simply having similar languages was not enough to prove a common racial origin.
The Court believed that the law excluded non-white people because of racial differences, not because one race was better than another. They felt that the differences between Indians and white people were so big that most Americans would not accept Indians becoming part of their society.
Finally, the Court pointed out that a law passed in 1917 already stopped most people from Asia, including India, from entering the country. This suggested that Congress also intended for people from India not to be able to become naturalized citizens.
What Happened After the Decision
Because of this Supreme Court decision, no person of Indian origin could become a naturalized American citizen. For example, A. K. Mozumdar, who was the first person from India to become an American citizen, had his citizenship taken away.
Not only were new requests for citizenship from Indians denied, but the ruling also meant that citizenship already given to many Asian Indians could be taken away. Between 1923 and 1927, up to fifty Indian-Americans lost their citizenship because of the Thind ruling. Even Thind's own lawyer, Sakharam Ganesh Pandit, was targeted. However, Pandit successfully argued that taking away his citizenship would unfairly harm him and his wife. His citizenship was kept, and the government stopped trying to take away citizenship from other Indian-Americans.
Some Indian landowners in California faced problems because of this ruling. They were affected by the California Alien Land Law of 1913, which stopped people who were not eligible for citizenship from owning land. Many Indians left the United States because of this pressure and new immigration laws. By 1940, only about half of the original Indian-American population remained.
Bhagat Singh Thind tried to become a citizen a third time in 1935. This was after a new law, the Nye-Lea Act, made World War I veterans eligible for citizenship no matter their race. Because he was a veteran, he was finally granted United States citizenship, almost 20 years after he first asked for it.
During World War II, more people supported Asian Indians. As India moved closer to becoming independent, Indians in the U.S. pushed for an end to unfair laws against them. When laws against Chinese immigrants were removed in 1943, Indians hoped for the same. Despite strong opposition from some members of Congress, the Asian Indian community gained support from important politicians and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. This led to President Harry S. Truman signing the Luce–Celler Act of 1946 into law on July 2, 1946. This Act changed the Thind decision. It allowed people from India to become naturalized citizens and set a small limit of 100 immigrants per year from India.
