Naturalization records

I can't seem to find any naturalization records on ancestors in the 1840 and 1849. I was able to find them in the late 1800's. This may be a stupid question but were they required to have natualization records in the early 1800's when they first came over or was that required in later years. I was also unable to find the records of the Superb from when it landed in New York, i got the passenger lists from leaving Norway. I know that from researching several sights with passenger lists that some were to damaged to read. Does anybody know if that's the case with the ship Superb