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> being born here is the only reason that I'm considered a citizen

What was the test for citizenship before the 14th amendment?


> What was the test for citizenship before the 14th amendment?

Basically, the same. Inglis v. Trustees of Sailor's Snug Harbor (1830) established:

The rule commonly laid down in the books is, that every person who is born within the ligeance of a sovereign is a subject; and, e converso, that every person born without such allegiance is an alien. . . . Two things usually concur to create citizenship; first, birth locally within the dominions of the sovereign; and secondly, birth within the protection and obedience, or in other words, within the ligeance of the sovereign. That is, the party must be born within a place where the sovereign is at the time in full possession and exercise of his power, and the party must also at his birth derive protection from, and consequently owe obedience or allegiance to the sovereign, as such, de facto.[0]

It excluded slaves and it excluded Native Americans. Native American US citizenship was established in 1924 by statute.[1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizenship_Clause#cite_ref-4

[1] https://www.bia.gov/faqs/are-american-indians-and-alaska-nat...

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