In 1917, Ethan Anderson, a Pomo Indian of California, sued the Lake County Clerk after being denied the right to register to vote on the grounds that he was not a citizen of the United States. Anderson argued that he was a citizen under the treaty of Queretaro (Hidalgo) agreed upon at the conclusion of the Mexican American War which states, “Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories may either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens or acquire those of citizens of the United States. But they shall be under the obligation to make their election within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty; and those who shall remain in the said territories after the expiration of that year, without having declared their intention to retain the character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to become citizens of the United States”. Given that Anderson’s ancestors remained in California after the treaty and he himself was born in California he asserted that he was a citizen of the United States.