Embedded Files
02/20/25 - A day after President’s Day last Tuesday, Feb. 17, 17 candidates from Palau, Thailand, Taiwan and the Philippines were granted their applications for naturalization and were officially welcomed as the country’s newest U.S. citizens at the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands in Gualo Rai.
The event was presided over by Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona and was attended by the naturalization candidates’ family, friends, and court officials.
The 17 new U.S. citizens are Rona Lin Acebo, Clinton Daniel Marcelo Albert, Nita Duenas Batuigas, Ana Marie Manansala Camacho, Loretta Ngitong Cuellar, Ruth Importante Dues, Renato Roa Gella, Teresita Aleta Gella, Kiriyaporn Thosa Jones, Flora Legaspi Largrio, Alexander Olayres Lauron, Rodil Sena Loto, Eden Madridano Marinas, Nenita Dalire Mira, Fernando Sotto Pangilinan, Nelly Dela Rosa Sablan, and Anita Sia Sanchez.
As it was President’s Day the day prior, Marianas High School history teacher Chas Algaier served as guest speaker and shared a story about two of the nation’s Founding Fathers who happen to be America’s second and third presidents—John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Algaier said Adams, who was President George Washington's vice president, and Jefferson, who was the secretary of State, didn’t see eye to eye in the beginning. It didn’t help that Adams was a member of the Federalist Party and Jefferson was a Democratic Republican.
“Their parties and the men embraced greatly different points of view on how America should operate. Plus, they kind of hated one another. After Washington stepped down as president, Adams and Jefferson ran against each other in two elections.”
Adams won in 1796 and Jefferson won in 1800. Algaier said the elections themselves were as hot as they come. At the time, candidates did not speak publicly about the races as it was deemed unseemly.
However, the candidates’ supporters could say whatever they wanted, and these statements were always made with the tacit approval of the candidates.
Algaier then sampled some of the vitriol that was said during the 1776 elections.
“This is John Adams' people talking about Thomas Jefferson. ‘If Thomas Jefferson is elected, murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced.’ That's not good. [This is] Jefferson talking about Adams. ‘Are you prepared to see your dwellings in flames, female chastity violated, and children riding on the pike? Jefferson is the champion of mob rule and the destroyer of order.’”
The former Northern Marianas College professor went further.
“During the same election, Jefferson talking about Adams. ‘Adams wants to make himself king and bind us in chains to the British crown once more. Adams and his Federalist friends would muzzle the press and imprison those who speak against him. Shall we have a president who rides in a coach and sits like a king while the common man suffers?’”
Then things got even worse in the elections of 1800, Algaier said when Adams’ supporters said this about Jefferson.
“The Bible will be cast into a bonfire. Our children will be taught murder and adultery, and the air will be rent with the cries of the distressed. If Jefferson is elected, we will see the guillotine set upon all of our streets. God help our country if Mr. Jefferson is elected. He is the greatest danger America has ever faced.”
Not to be outdone, this was Jefferson’s supporters’ attack on Adams, according to Algaier,
“Adams is a repulsive pedant, a gross hypocrite, and a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force of a man nor the gentleness of a woman. If Adams is re-elected, we will find ourselves in endless wars. John Adams is vain, egotistical, and blind to the will of the people. He is a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant.”
These men obviously did not like each other, explained Algaier.
“Now at the time, whomever got the most votes in the national election got to be president, and whoever got the second highest numbers got to be vice president. So, in 1796, Adams was president and Jefferson was vice president. In 1800, they switched.”
Algaier said Adams was so bitter after the election that he left Washington, D.C. at 4am on Inauguration Day rather than attend Jefferson's inauguration.
“But empathy, bad feelings, don't last. As they aged, John Adams' wife, Abigail Adams, who was very much a force in her own right, began writing to Jefferson seeking to befriend the founder. She encouraged her husband to write, and he did, and over time the relationship between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson thawed out, and then it flourished, and then they became friends, best friends. They were writing to each other every day.”
Algaier said they wrote each other every day for decades and at the end of their lives, they died in the most symbolic of ways.
“They both passed from the earth on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years to the day of the Declaration of Independence. Adams' last words were, ‘Jefferson lives.’ He had not been informed that his former enemy and now close, close friend had passed a few hours before him.”
Algaier said a lot of lessons can be learned from the Adams-Jefferson rivalry that turned into genuine friendship, especially for people just coming into the American family.
“If I were to assign a theme to it, I guess I would say something about how things change, how the negative can become the positive, and that this too shall pass. The America you guys are going into is not at a calm state. It's kind of riled, but I believe this story tells what it does. This too shall pass. At the founding, during the signing of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson estimated that the new country would last for about 50 years if we were lucky. It's coming up to 250, that's next year, so it's proven to be a bit more durable than he thought,” he said.
Algaier’s remarks struck a resonant tone for everyone in attendance, more so for the newest U.S. citizens with the Trump administration questioning the future of birthright citizenship.
“Trump has a lot of extreme and radical ideologies and has started on implementing most of them. Some hits and some misses. I have no comment about this specific issue but I just hope and pray that all his decisions are based on really making America better,” said Albert, who is the co-owner of Think Tank Pacific Solutions and La Mesa Kusina. The 42-year-old who has lived on Saipan since 2017 was petitioned by his parents.
Mira, who was petitioned by her daughter, seems to side with Trump’s plan to end birth right citizenship, at least if both parents are illegal immigrants.
“Because it’s not like he wants it gone outright, and with that, it might be able to control the population and deter people from coming into the country illegally,” he said.
She added that she’s beyond overjoyed to finally becoming a U.S. citizen. “I feel so happy that this day has come. I couldn’t believe that after 32 years of living in the CNMI, I’m a U.S. citizen. I never thought in my life that I would even have children on U.S. soil—what more become a U.S. citizen myself? This journey from my province of Claveria, to having two beautiful children, from obtaining my green card, now becoming a citizen, is a big blessing. I can’t thank God enough, as well as my first born, Leigh, who gave me the title of mom and for figuring out life with me, and my only other child, Phil Sai. I would also like to thank my husband, Jimmy, for his unconditional love and support, as well as my parents who have already both passed. I would also like to thank each relative that first gave me the opportunity to work and live in Rota—my grandfather Dioniso Semana, my cousin Julie Semana, and the rest of their family. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” she said.
Another new member of the American family, 59-year-old Pangilinan said he first came to Saipan in 1992 and is proud to still be a contributing member of the community as a chef at Pacific Islands Club Saipan. He said he will continue to work until his early retirement in three years and may move to the U.S. mainland after.
As for Algaier’s take on birthright citizenship, he could only extrapolate from his experience as a longtime educator in the multi-ethnic U.S. territory.
“I believe in the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution as both drafted and amended. All of the ‘anchor baby’ students I can remember having were smart and hard-working. I'm also of a generation where the idea that people should do whatever they could to escape communist countries was an admirable one, so there's that. The notion that Saipan has important secrets worth learning about is laughable; the idea that birth tourism is a valid route for putting spies into the USA is specious. It somehow ignores that 21-year wait before parents can be sponsored by a child."
-----
Story by Mark Rabago
Report abuse