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Prior to Civil War
Before the civil war citizenship was very questionable. Views on citizenship differed like that national citizenship was dependent upon state citizenship so state citizens under state law were then U.S. citizens. This though raised questions about residents born in the District of Columbia or any other federal territory. -
Dredd Scott
Dredd Scott sued the executor of his former master's estate under the state-citizenship diversity jurisdiction of the federal courts, and he was looking for determination that he was free since his master voluntarily took Scott into free territory. It was concluded by Chief Justice Taney though that Scott as not a citizen of any state and that the Constitution limited state and national citizens on racial grounds so individuals like Dredd Scott of African descent were not citizens. -
Republican Party
Abraham Lincoln led the republican party to control of the House in 1860's election and Lincoln's legal position was that free blacks should be American citizens. End of the Civil war brough republican control to the 39th Congress which started in 1865. -
Congress Fights
Confederate states after and during the civil war had formed new white-dominated governments restricting the rights of African Americans and former slaves. The discriminatory laws passed by the Confederates were combatted by Republican Congress's Civil Rights Act of 1866 declaring all persons born or "naturalized in the U.S. were U.S. citizens not depending on race and ethnicity. Only exceptions to this were American-born persons that "Subject to any foreign power or Indians not taxed." -
More about Congress's Fight
Civil Rights Act gave citizens the same basic civil rights as holding property and making contracts which were then for more than just white citizens. Race discrimination was forbidden among citizens with respect to civil rights. Specific rights were not addressed but voting rights was now a political right, but citizenship did not fully give equal and full political rights to everyone yet such as women and American-born minor children. -
14th Amendment
First sentence granted national and state citizenship in writing and the House agreed to pass it. The grant of citizenship to someone subject to the jurisdiction under the U.S. was in question, and the Citizenship Clause was adopted and drafted against the Civil Rights Act to withhold birthright citizenship from American-born children of foreign diplomats in the U.S. since international laws made diplomats and their families immune to legal control and court of their home country. -
Civil Rights Movement of the 1940s-1960s
Harry Truman issued an executive order in 1948 ending segregation in Armed services. Years later Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 was a group of 5 cases in one that the Supreme Court decided effectively ended racial segregation in public schools even though many schools remained segregated after. Rosa Parks in 1955 was an event that started the Montgomery Bus Boycott after Parks refused to give her seat up on a bus for a white man. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 which helped protect voter rights and allow federal prosecution to anyone who suppressed another person's right to vote. This was a step in the right direction for helping blacks gain more civil and citizen-like rights that they deserved. -
Compared to Today
These newly forming rights and laws during the Civil Rights movement were subject to American born citizens naturalized in the U.S. and that still stands today. Yet today changes in voter rights in today's world allow women voters which changed during the Women's Suffrage Movement. Also, Civil Rights today have made tremendous strides for all citizens and equal pay for people of color and for women has also improved.