Omar Bennett
The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution defines American citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment was added after the Civil War to repudiate the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that free African-Americans could not be citizens. The Citizenship Clause establishes a national rule for citizenship, stating that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. This simple rule ensures that anyone born in America is a US citizen, regardless of race or state citizenship determinations. The Fourteenth Amendment also grants Congress the power to regulate naturalization and protect the privileges and immunities of US citizens.
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What You'll Learn
The Fourteenth Amendment
The Citizenship Clause, part of Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, is one of the most litigated parts of the Constitution. It states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." This clause overruled the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, in which the Supreme Court held that free African Americans, even those born in the United States, could not be citizens. The Citizenship Clause established a simple national rule: if you are born in America, you are a US citizen, regardless of race.
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Birthright citizenship
The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution defines American citizenship. The Citizenship Clause, the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment, states:
> All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
This is the principle of birthright citizenship, which is also known as jus soli, or "right of the territory". Birthright citizenship is a legal principle under which citizenship is automatically granted to individuals upon birth. There are two forms: ancestry-based citizenship and birthplace-based citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of birthright citizenship has been interpreted to mean that anyone born in the US is a citizen, regardless of their parents' citizenship status. This was confirmed by the 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
The Citizenship Clause was added to the Constitution after the Civil War, to address the problem of racist state-level citizenship rules that denied citizenship to African Americans, even those born in the US. The Fourteenth Amendment made Americans citizens of the nation, not individual states, and established a national rule for citizenship.
However, birthright citizenship has been challenged in recent years, with legislators at both the national and state levels introducing bills that would deny US citizenship to babies of undocumented immigrants. In 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, but this was blocked by a federal judge in Seattle. The Supreme Court will now decide whether the constitutional right to citizenship for people born in the US to non-citizen parents is guaranteed.
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Naturalization Clause
The Citizenship Clause, which is the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." This clause was adopted on July 9, 1868, and it reversed a portion of the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, which had declared that African Americans were not and could not become citizens of the United States.
The Citizenship Clause marked an important shift in American identity. Before the Fourteenth Amendment, the Constitution did not provide a set definition of citizenship, allowing states to set their own rules, often based on race. The Fourteenth Amendment established a simple national rule for citizenship: if you are born in America, you are a US citizen. This amendment also made Americans citizens of the nation first and foremost, conferring state citizenship on national citizens who reside in a state.
The Fourteenth Amendment also brought with it a set of fundamental "privileges or immunities" for American citizens, which are rights protected against abuses by state governments. This includes the right to due process and equal protection under the law.
The Naturalization Clause, found in Article I, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution, provides Congress with the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization throughout the United States. This clause gives Congress the authority to determine when foreign nationals may obtain US citizenship and contributes to its power over immigration, including setting rules for when non-citizens can enter or remain in the country. The Supreme Court has described naturalization as "adopting a foreigner and clothing him with the privileges of a native citizen." This power is related to Congress's implied power over immigration, as explained in the Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18).
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Supreme Court cases
The Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution defines American citizenship. The Citizenship Clause states:
> All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
The Fourteenth Amendment was enacted to repudiate the Supreme Court's decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which ruled that free African-Americans, even if born in the United States, could not be citizens. The Amendment's Citizenship Clause thus establishes that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, regardless of race, and that states must treat all citizens equally.
The Supreme Court has interpreted the Citizenship Clause in several cases, including:
- Elk v. Wilkins (1884): The Court held that Native American tribes were independent political powers, and their members were not automatically US citizens, even if they left their tribe and settled among whites.
- United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898): The Court affirmed that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, except for children born to parents with diplomatic immunity.
- Insurance Co. v. New Orleans (1870): The Court ruled that corporations are not citizens and cannot claim the privileges and immunities of US citizens.
- The Civil Rights Cases (1883): The Court interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as only applying to state governments, not private actors, in a decision that was inconsistent with the Amendment's text and history.
These Supreme Court cases have shaped the understanding and application of the Citizenship Clause, which remains a significant part of American constitutional law.
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Native American citizenship
The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1868, states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." This marked a significant shift in American identity, establishing a national rule for citizenship and guaranteeing birthright citizenship.
However, the ""jurisdiction" requirement was interpreted to exclude most Native Americans. In the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford case, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney stated that even if a Native American gave up their tribal membership and paid taxes, they would still need to go through naturalization, legislation, or provisions of a treaty to become a citizen. In 1884, the Supreme Court case Elk v. Wilkins further solidified this exclusion, holding that a Native American born to tribal member parents was not a citizen and did not become one by voluntarily leaving their tribe.
It was not until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, also known as the Snyder Act, that the United States government conferred citizenship on Native Americans, guaranteeing birthright citizenship to all Native Americans born in the country. This Act marked the first more inclusive method of granting Native American citizenship, as prior to this, Native Americans were explicitly denied citizenship in the Constitution and through the Fourteenth Amendment.
Despite this progress, Native Americans continued to face obstacles in fully realizing their citizenship rights, particularly in regard to voting rights. Native voters have had to engage in extensive advocacy and litigation to secure their right to vote, and even today, inequities persist in voter registration, early voting, and Election Day processes. Additionally, Native Americans still face gross disparities in services and infrastructure, such as transportation, broadband, and home addressing, which can create barriers to full citizenship.
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Frequently asked questions
The Citizenship Clause is a part of the Fourteenth Amendment that defines American citizenship. It states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
The Citizenship Clause was added to the Constitution to address the issues of citizenship that arose from the Dred Scott v. Sandford case in 1857. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that free African-Americans, even if they were born in the United States, could not be citizens. The Citizenship Clause overturned this decision and established birthright citizenship.
Before the Fourteenth Amendment, states had the power to determine their own citizenship requirements, often restricting citizenship to white people. The Citizenship Clause prioritizes national citizenship over state citizenship, ensuring that anyone born in the United States is a citizen regardless of race.
The Citizenship Clause excludes children of diplomatic representatives of foreign states, children born to alien enemies in hostile occupation, and children of members of Indian tribes subject to tribal laws. Additionally, children born on vessels in US territorial waters or on the high seas are generally considered citizens of their parents' country of citizenship.
Birthright citizenship for children born abroad to US citizen parents is defined separately in federal law and is known as "jus sanguinis" or "right of blood." This type of citizenship is not explicitly mentioned in the Citizenship Clause.
