My grandparents were born in Rochester, NY (1), Meriden, CT (1), and Brooklyn, NY (2) in 1893, 1894, 1895, and 1896.
At the time of their birth, only one of my 8 great-grandparents was a US citizen, having been born in New York City in 1864. The other seven great-grandparents were subjects of the Emperor of Germany or of Her Britannic Majesty Victoria Alexandrina.
At no time during the lives of my grandparents was it ever suggested that they were not US citizens. My grandfathers served in the Army and the Navy during WW I. My mother’s mother was a NYC public school teacher for 55 years at a time when US citizenship was a requirement.
Both of my grandfathers’ WW I draft cards had boxes to check for citizenship status. There were two boxes: “Natural born” and “Naturalized” (there was also a box labelled “Alien”). Since my grandparents were never naturalized, both of my grandfathers checked “natural born”.
Do you assert that none of the millions and millions of white children born to immigrants who were not naturalized were actually citizens? No one at the time asserted that - no one.
I have citizenship papers from a great great grandfather...it specifically asks or says that the applicant Renounces any loyalty to the Emperor of Germany. That’s I think how they became American citizens.