The 13th freed the slaves. The 14th made us ALL into slaves, essentially. The 14th created a new entity that never existed prior - the creation of the 'American citizen'. Prior to the 14th, The People were citizens of the several (severable) states. With the 14th, People were BOTH citizens of the state of their domicile PLUS an American citizen. The 17th was not the only amendment to destroy states rights... the 14th took out a big notch of it.
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.
Thanks for this observation.
I realize this is when the term was introduced but what practical effect did it have?
Does the Constitution define any additional duties for ‘citizens’ that didn’t already exist?
Did this in some way diminish the value of state citizenship?
I’m just not seeing the impact of saying we’re also citizens of the nation.
This is clearly wrong.
Article I Section 2
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.Article I Section 3
No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.Article II Section 1
No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President...Article III Section 2 (later modified by the 11th amendment)
The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority; to all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls; to all Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction; to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party; to Controversies between two or more States; between a State and Citizens of another State; between Citizens of different States; between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.Article IV Section 2Amendment 11
The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.Amendment 14
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.As you can see throughout the original text of the Constitution, Article I refers to "citizens of the United States" and "inhabitants of that state". However, Article III (and subsequently Amendment 11) referred to "citizens of the state."
This shows that the Framers of the Constitution implied that "We the People of the United States" were citizens of the "United States of America" and also citizens of our respective states prior to the ratification of the 14th amendment.
As a side note, the phrase "United States of America" only occurs three times in the Constitution, in the Preamble, in Article II Section 1, and in Article VII. Constitutionally speaking, the people were never referred to as "American citizens," but as "Citizens of the United States."
-PJ
Exactly, and 14th was requisite and foundational for even more diabolical and antithetical 16th.
And then the next sentence, we get demoted to being: “subject”. The Federal Governemnt is the subject!
The original idea was to give the Federal Government limited and specific powers. The individual states would run the rest. An example of just how powerful the states were was slavery. States could literally have slaves under the Federal system. Not very consistent with a nation conceived in liberty but very consistent with limited powers.
The evil system of black slavery has ended . Under the Amendments added all of America is slowly being enslaved under Socialism. I prefer the original Constitution back.