Malcolm Rivera
The original US Constitution, adopted in 1789, mentions the concepts of state and national citizenship but does not lay down a clear and comprehensive rule about either kind of citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in 1868, provides a basic rule regarding the acquisition of 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. However, this amendment does not extend citizenship to everyone born in the US, and there are exceptions, including children of foreign diplomatic representatives and members of Indian tribes. The Fourteenth Amendment also does not address the rights that come with citizenship.
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What You'll Learn
- The original Constitution does not lay down a clear rule about citizenship
- The Fourteenth Amendment establishes the priority of national citizenship
- The Citizenship Clause offers a way around the state action doctrine
- The Supreme Court held that free African-Americans, though born in the US, could not be citizens
- Native Americans were not automatically citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment
The original Constitution does not lay down a clear rule about citizenship
The original Constitution of the United States, adopted in 1789, does not lay down a clear rule about citizenship. While it assumes the existence of citizenship at the state and national levels, it does not provide explicit criteria for determining who is a citizen. The lack of clarity on this matter led to controversies over citizenship before the Civil War, particularly regarding the rights of individuals of African descent and those with Native American tribal affiliations.
The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, introduced the Citizenship Clause, which established a basic rule for acquiring 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." This clause overturned the infamous Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, which had excluded individuals of African descent from citizenship.
However, even with the Fourteenth Amendment, questions about the acquisition of citizenship remained. The amendment does not address whether a state can confer citizenship on someone who is not a US citizen or whether national citizenship can be acquired through means other than birth or naturalization. Additionally, the "jurisdiction" requirement in the Citizenship Clause has been the subject of interpretation, with Supreme Court cases like Elk v. Wilkins in 1884, clarifying that Native Americans under the jurisdiction of tribal nations are not automatically US citizens.
The concept of citizenship has continued to evolve, and policies have been implemented to protect the integrity of US citizenship. For example, in 2025, the White House issued an order stating that no government agency should issue documents recognizing US citizenship to individuals born in the US if their mother was unlawfully present or temporarily present with a non-citizen father. This order aimed to prevent the granting of citizenship to individuals without a legitimate claim to it.
In conclusion, while the original Constitution assumed the existence of citizenship, it lacked a clear rule defining who was considered a citizen. The Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause provided a basic framework, but the specifics of citizenship acquisition and the rights associated with it have been refined through court interpretations and subsequent policies.
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The Fourteenth Amendment establishes the priority of national citizenship
The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, passed by Congress on June 13, 1866, and ratified on July 9, 1868, establishes the priority of national citizenship. The Citizenship Clause, which is part of the Fourteenth Amendment, declares that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and the state in which they reside. This clause overruled the Dred Scott case, which held that even a free man descended from a former slave was not eligible for citizenship.
The Citizenship Clause establishes a simple national rule for citizenship: if you are born in America, you are a US citizen. This rule applies regardless of race or color and supersedes any state citizenship determinations. Prior to the Fourteenth Amendment, states often reserved citizenship for whites, excluding African Americans, even those born in the state. The Fourteenth Amendment ensures that no state can deny citizenship to those born within its borders and grants all US citizens a set of fundamental privileges and immunities.
The Fourteenth Amendment also addresses the issue of national and state citizenship, which was not explicitly defined in the original Constitution. While the original Constitution assumed the existence of both types of citizenship, it did not provide a clear rule for determining who was a citizen of the United States or a particular state. The Fourteenth Amendment resolves this ambiguity by granting both national and state citizenship to those born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.
The Citizenship Clause has been interpreted to mean that anyone born in America under the American flag is an American, regardless of their parents' citizenship status. This interpretation establishes the priority of birthright citizenship over other forms of citizenship. However, it is important to note that the Fourteenth Amendment does not extend citizenship universally to everyone born in the United States. There are exceptions, such as children born to diplomatic representatives of foreign states or alien enemies in hostile occupation.
The Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause is significant because it ensures that all persons born or naturalized in the United States have the same rights and privileges as citizens. It establishes the priority of national citizenship and provides a clear rule for determining citizenship, resolving the controversies surrounding state and national citizenship that existed prior to the Civil War.
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The Citizenship Clause offers a way around the state action doctrine
The US Constitution, as originally adopted, assumes the existence of citizenship of the United States and of the individual states. However, it does not explicitly define citizenship or outline a clear rule for determining who is a citizen.
The Citizenship Clause, or the Fourteenth Amendment, was introduced to address this issue. 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. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
The Citizenship Clause was designed to overrule the Dred Scott case, which held that free African Americans, despite being born in the US, could not be citizens. The Clause establishes the priority of national citizenship and requires states to treat any American residing in that state as a full and equal citizen.
The Citizenship Clause also offers a way around the state action doctrine, one of the most challenging aspects of modern constitutional law. The state action doctrine holds that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections, such as equal protection of the laws, privileges or immunities of US citizenship, and due process of law, apply only to the actions of state governments and not to those of private actors.
However, the Citizenship Clause is not explicitly limited to the relationship between citizens and governments. Its text has broader implications and can be interpreted to address the actions of private actors as well. This interpretation allows Congress to address acts of private discrimination and violence, which was a significant issue during Reconstruction in the South.
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The Supreme Court held that free African-Americans, though born in the US, could not be citizens
The original U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1789, did not lay down a clear and comprehensive rule about citizenship. The concept of citizenship was mentioned in the Constitution, but the details were unclear. The document assumed that there was citizenship of the United States and of the individual states, and it gave Congress the power to naturalize citizens.
The Fourteenth Amendment, adopted in 1868, clarified the issue of citizenship. It stated 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 amendment repudiated the Supreme Court's 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which had declared that African Americans were not and could not become citizens of the United States.
The Dred Scott decision was based on the interpretation that the Constitution implicitly limited both state and national citizenship on racial grounds, generally excluding individuals of African descent. This interpretation was strongly disputed by dissenters on the Court and others, who noted that free blacks had been considered citizens by many states at the Founding. Despite this, the Supreme Court held that free African Americans, though born in the US, could not be citizens.
The Fourteenth Amendment explicitly reversed this decision, stating that all persons, regardless of race and color, are citizens of the United States if they are born or naturalized in the country and subject to its jurisdiction. This amendment was seen as a repudiation of one of the more politically divisive cases of the nineteenth century. It granted citizenship to freed slaves and ensured that no person could be denied the privileges and immunities of citizenship due to their race or previous condition of slavery.
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Native Americans were not automatically citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment, which came into effect in 1868, declared that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens". However, the jurisdiction requirement was interpreted to exclude most Native Americans. The amendment specified that "Indians not taxed" were not considered citizens of the United States. This exclusion was further clarified by the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1870, which stated that the Fourteenth Amendment did not impact the status of Native American tribes within the United States.
At the time of the adoption of the US Constitution, Native Americans were classified as "Indians not taxed" and were not considered eligible for US citizenship. They were governed by distinct tribes, which functioned as separate political entities. Tribal members who maintained their ties to their tribe and resided on tribal land were considered foreigners living in the United States as wards of the federal government. This classification was established in the Cherokee Nation v. Georgia case of 1831.
The earliest recorded date of Native Americans becoming US citizens was in 1831 when the Mississippi Choctaw became citizens after the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. After the American Civil War, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (ratified in 1870) reiterated the exclusion of Native Americans from citizenship, stating that "Indians not taxed" were not citizens. However, it is important to note that a small percentage (around 8%) of the Native American population at the time did qualify for US citizenship because they were taxed.
Some Native Americans obtained citizenship through other means, such as by serving in the military, marrying white Americans, or accepting land allotments under the Dawes Act of 1887. The Dawes Act, however, did not apply to citizens of certain tribes, including the Osage, Miami, Peoria, and Sac and Fox Nations of Indian Territory. It was not until the Curtis Act of 1898 that the provisions of the Dawes Act were extended to these tribes, making their tribal members eligible to vote in local elections.
In 1901, a federal act granted US citizenship to all Native Americans residing in Indian Territory. However, the Burke Act of 1906 withheld the citizenship granted by the Dawes Act until the expiration of the trust period for an allotment (typically 25 years) or until the allottee obtained a fee patent from the government. After World War I, Congress decreed in 1919 that all Native Americans who had been honorably discharged from military service could become US citizens if they applied. This grant of citizenship applied to about 125,000 out of 300,000 Native Americans in the United States at the time.
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Frequently asked questions
The original Constitution did not lay down a clear and comprehensive rule about citizenship. However, it assumed that some people had state citizenship and national citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment, which was added later, 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 is the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment, which 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 was added to entrench the principle of citizenship in the Constitution and prevent it from being struck down by the Supreme Court or repealed by Congress.
The Citizenship Clause is significant because it establishes the priority of national citizenship, requiring states to treat any American citizen as a full and equal citizen, regardless of the state they reside in. It also overruled the infamous Dred Scott case, which held that free African Americans, despite being born in the United States, could not be citizens.
A natural-born citizen is someone who is born within the United States and is subject to its jurisdiction. This includes children born to citizens or naturalized individuals in the United States, with some exceptions for children of foreign diplomats and certain other cases.
No, Native Americans were not initially considered citizens of the United States when the Constitution was written. However, over time, some Native Americans obtained citizenship by serving in the military, marrying whites, or accepting land allotments. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted citizenship to all non-citizen Native Americans.
