"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of which I was previously a citizen or subject; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."
According to the United States naturalization oath, new citizens would no longer owe allegiance to princes, monarchs, states, or sovereigns. In America, there were no people bearing titles such as king, duke, or emperor. Everyone was equal; the president could not dismiss an equally elected county magistrate.
Before the American Revolutionary War, the Thirteen Colonies in North America had suffered deeply under exploitation by the mother country. The Sugar Act of 1764 was followed by the Stamp Act the next year. Sugar trade required payment in hard currency rather than paper money, which America itself lacked at the time. They had even used Native American shell beads as currency.
Besides innate conditions, nutrition was another factor that determined a person's height. As a great agricultural nation, America had not only corn and wheat, but also fine beef from New York State, fine pork from North Carolina, and fine venison from Philadelphia. As the thirteen colonies became linked together, eighteenth-century Americans became the best nourished and tallest people in the world.
Endless poverty did not merely shorten the lifespans of most Europeans; it also left them ten inches shorter than Americans.
Early immigrants had often fared miserably in their homelands. Leaving home for somewhere they could do better was preferable to remaining where there was neither work nor hope. Even without famine, these people had not lived much better. Skinny, undersized Europeans looked rather pitiful beside tall, strapping Americans, yet work awaited them the moment they disembarked.