What Is Birthright Citizenship?
Birthright citizenship means any person born in the United States and subject to the country's jurisdiction is a citizen. It falls under the 14th Amendment, which was passed in 1868. Before this amendment, however, citizenship was not always the case for native-born residents, especially for blacks and American Indians.
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Dred Scott v. Sanford
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The Dred Scott v. Sanford court decision in 1857 ruled that no person of black descent, even those freed from slavery, could be a U.S. citizen. The 14th Amendment overturned that decision.
Fourteenth Amendment
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The 14th Amendment made citizenship in the United States primary and state citizenship derivative, meaning a state could no longer prevent a black person from United States citizenship or from state citizenship.
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Elk v. Wilkins
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The 1884 court decision in Elk v. Wilkins upheld that an American Indian who renounced allegiance to the Indian tribe could not become subject to the country's jurisdiction.
Congress 1870
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Beginning in 1870, Congress extended citizenship to many American Indian tribes. Any tribal member was allowed to become a United States citizenship if they wanted. Less than 30 years later, the Supreme Court adopted the common-law definition in 1898's United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision.
Potential
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Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Georgia, sponsored H.R. 1868--the Birthright Citizenship Act in 2009--that would eliminate birthright citizenship for children who are born in the United States to undocumented immigrants. The law currently recognizes any child born in the country as a natural born citizen. The bill, if passed, would require that at least one parent of the child would have to be a legal permanent resident, U.S. citizen or an immigrant not documented and serving in the military.
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