It was clear post 1866. Progressives didn't capture the schools until a few years into the 1900s and people came to understand it well when schools still actually taught. (separately) Congress even understood it which is why they passed the Indian citizenship act in the 1920s. This phrase "subject to the jurisdiction" was not lost until later.
That's how I know you're not over 100 years old. :-)
"but all the legal system is having trouble with that statement"
That right there. You see. You see, I put nothing in terms of words in your mouth. "???Having trouble???" That's trust language.
These are leftists pal. They are not "having trouble" with it at all. They desire a specific outcome and so they do not care about what it actually means. They are lying to you and you're over there sucking up the slop as fast as they can dish it out. You do trust left wing judges. I didn't force you to say they're having trouble.
There is no way that the 14th could be written that would satisfy left wing judges, the leftists would simply pick another point and do the same thing. They have an agenda. There is no "badly written" in the context of their agenda.
It really is all their fault. It is all their fault. Progressives are liars. Progressivism is America's Cancer.
I am laying all the blame on them because they deserve all of the blame. They have worked hard to earn all the blame and they are the rightful owners of said blame. But you say they are "having trouble". No. They are not having trouble. No trouble at all.
I am trying to figure out how to explain this thing to you.
Not everyone in the legal system is a leftist deliberately trying to distort things. Most of them just accept what their professors tell them, and what other courts have said. The legal system is stuck on this idea called "precedent." They give ridiculous levels of respect to decisions prior judges have made.
You see, they don't try to think for themselves, or to re=litigate a case that has already been litigated, they just accept whatever the Judge presiding over it decided was the truth.
You seem to think it is a conspiracy of deliberately twisting. I think it's a conspiracy of being complacent, accepting "authority", and not thinking for yourself.
The legal people are like a herd of cows. They follow wherever the dominant members of the herd go.
Now if you want to say those dominant herd members have deliberately twisted things, I won't disagree with you, but it's harder to twist things when they are written more clearly.
There is no way that the 14th could be written that would satisfy left wing judges,
I disagree. They could have just said, "Former black slaves born in America are now citizens."
Hard to apply that to illegals.