You’re right. It doesn’t change the Constitution. What has changed since 1865 is judicial interpretation of the Constitution regarding citizenship.
In 1874 in the Supreme Court decision in Minor v. Happersett, the Court said: “The Constitution does not say, in words, who shall be natural born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to determine that.”
“Elsewhere” that the Minor decision mentions turned out to be the 1898 ruling of the High Court in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark. Justice Gray, writing for the six Justice majority said: “[An alien parent’s] allegiance to the United States is direct and immediate, and, although but local and temporary, continuing only so long as he remains within our territory, is yet, in the words of Lord Coke in Calvin’s Case, 7 Coke, 6a, ’strong enough to make a natural subject, for, if he hath issue here, that issue is a natural-born subject’
The Wong court also said: “Subject’ and ‘citizen’ are, in a degree, convertible terms as applied to natives; and though the term ‘citizen’ seems to be appropriate to republican freemen, yet we are, equally with the inhabitants of all other countries, ’subjects,’ for we are equally bound by allegiance and subjection to the government and law of the land.’”
and Justice Gray went on to write:
“…every child born in England of alien parents was a natural-born subject, unless the child of an ambassador or other diplomatic agent of a foreign state, or of an alien enemy in hostile occupation of the place where the child was born.
The same rule was in force in all the English colonies upon this continent down to the time of the Declaration of Independence, and in the United States afterwards, and continued to prevail under the constitution as originally established.”
So for the last 117 years, the Courts have ruled that there are two classes of U.S. citizens: “Citizen of the United States At Birth/natural born citizen” and naturalized U.S. citizen.”
No court ruling and no action of Congress has created a separate category called “natural born citizen” that is distinct from “Citizen of the United States At Birth.”
No court ruling and no action of Congress has created a separate category called “natural born citizen” that is distinct from “Citizen of the United States At Birth.”
That being the case, then the plain meaning of the words of the Constitution still abide.