The U.S. Constitution in Five Minutes - Joseph L. Smith
41. Who Is a Citizen?
The U.S. Constitution in Five Minutes - Joseph L. Smith
Anna O. Law [+]
CUNY Brooklyn College
Anna O. Law is Herbert Kurz Chair in Constitutional Rights and Associate Professor of Political Science at CUNY Brooklyn College. Her research and teaching focuses on the intersection between law, politics, and US immigration policy history.
Description
Sorting people into citizens and non-citizens is a way nations determine which people have full rights and privileges. Unfortunately, the US Constitution does not offer much guidance on citizenship until the Civil War and Reconstruction Amendments. Throughout most of U.S. history, citizenship was more exclusionary rather than inclusionary.