Citizens should study, understand Constitution

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, after the Civil War. It effectively nullified a Supreme Court Decision (Dred Scott) that held that blacks were not citizens. It was specifically intended to grant legal and civil rights to black people, brought here as slaves, and their children.

The 1924 Citizen Act later included American Indians, Aleutians and Eskimos. This excluded children born to ambassadors, foreign ministers, aliens and other visitors to this country, by limiting it to those “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” (political jurisdiction of the U.S.). Meaning that foreigners, who are citizens of another country, therefore subject to the jurisdiction of that country, cannot claim U.S. citizenship for their children, based upon their birth on U.S. soil.

Author/Sen. Jacob Howard (1862-1871) and the states who ratified the 14th Amendment never intended to grant Carte Blanche citizenship. The misinterpretation of an 1889 Supreme Court case (Wong Kim Ark) laid the foundation for the modern misconception that every baby born on U.S. soil is automatically a U.S. citizen. The opinion referred to “a legal domicile” for establishing the legality of immigrants. The absurdly false premise that became commonly accepted was that illegal aliens could have a legal domicile.

As responsible citizens, we all need to study and understand the U.S. Constitution.

Stan Giles

Cedar Rapids