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To: patlin
The 14th defines who is natural born and who is naturalized

No, it does not. It confers citizenship upon those former slaves born in the country who were being denied citizenship by certain States in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

47 posted on 06/12/2010 11:04:15 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry; bushpilot1
No, it does not. It confers citizenship upon those former slaves born in the country who were being denied citizenship by certain States in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

I have to respectfully disagree, it does not say all black persons born, it say all persons as not to exclude the blacks. It was passed to put to rest the issue of race in regards to birth on the soil to citizen parents in accordance to the Declaration of Independence & Constitution. Slavery was not adopted by the Constitution, but instead left as a state issue. It took a civil war to completely abolish it. The framers of the Constitution were wise in their knowledge and in order to form the new Union under a federal constitution, they had to concede certain things for the moment, but did put in place a law that forbade the importing of new slaves. You could say that they paved the way for the civil war. By the time the 14th was ratified, all blacks held in slavery were born on US soil into slavery against which was not in compliance to the US Constitution. Thus, the 14th was passed to insure uniformity at the state level as there were blacks who were already citizens immediately after the revolution as well as blacks in Congress. However, Congress still held the power as to whom it allowed to naturalize aka the Chinese Exclusion Act, etc.

Framer Rep. John Bingham:

“[I] find no fault with the introductory clause [S 61 Bill], which is simply declaratory of what is written in the Constitution, that every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen.”

Framers Sen. Trumbull and Sen. Howard:

"main purpose" of the clause "was to establish the citizenship of the negro" and that "[t]he phrase, 'subject to its jurisdiction' was intended to exclude from its operation children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States."

Article. XIV.
[Proposed 1866; Ratified 1868.]
Section. 1. 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.

50 posted on 06/12/2010 11:37:45 PM PDT by patlin
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