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Intial Citizenship of White, European Men
Since the first British colony of what would become the U.S., white European males dominated citizenship. This domination and citizenship are plain in Article 1 of the Constitution when speaking of representative apportionment that all free men (a.k.a white men) would be counted while native Americans would not, and three-fifths of all other persons - meaning African Americans. This implies that only white men would fully be represented in Congress and be full citizens (Berkin et al., 2015). -
The Struggle for Freedom - African Americans
The Declaration of Independence said that all men are created equal. However, from the founding, African Americans lived in a free land that denied them their own liberty. At that time, African Americans were slaves and not considered citizens or even full persons. As such, their masters and the government denied them basic rights. However, through civil war, emancipation, and the Fourteenth Amendment, they finally received the citizenship and freedom they deserved (Berkin et al., 2015). -
Irish Resistance
Irish settlers came to the U.S. and quickly saw resistance. People feared the Irish, their catholic affiliation, and the Know-nothings and other political forces deported them, prevented them from getting jobs, increased the amount of time after naturalization that they could vote, and resorted to violence. All to show that they didn't believe they should be citizens. However, by engaging in politics and building powerful political machines they cemented their footing in the U.S. (Klein, 2017) -
Italian Apprehension
When Italian immigrants began coming to the U.S., they found opponent groups sending literature to scare people of their arrival. Furthermore, because of this, they couldn't access schools, movie theatres, and churches, all things citizens enjoyed as privileges. In the South, they saw the same racial discrimination as African Americans. President Benjamin Harrison's efforts to honor Italian-Americans were crucial in integrating them into U.S. culture and citizenship (Staples, 2019). -
Suffrage - Women's Rights
While women were considered citizens of the republic, they lacked the powers and abilities that men did. Although some states, like New Jersey, accidentally gave women the right to vote if they owned property, society and government expected women to carry out the functions of the home and not take a political role. However, during the progressive era reforms, women fought and, via the Nineteenth Amendment, secured the rights of full citizenship, including the vote (Berkin et al., 2015). -
Japanese Internment - Citizens Stripped of Citizen Rights
After Pearl Harbor, President FDR issued an executive order causing the forceable removal of Japanese Americans, many of whom were citizens, to camps in the interest of national security. Fundamentally, the camps violated the guarantee of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as the government forced them to stay behind these walls. They closed after the war, restoring these Americans' rights, and the U.S. eventually issued reparations for their treatment (History.com Editors, 2009). -
Freedom to Equality - African Americans
While the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed African Americans liberty and citizenship, many in the South adopted laws like Jim Crow to deny the rights and privileges that came with that citizenship that whites had enjoyed. As such, they denied integrated and equal education, made it difficult to vote, and segregated public and private services. Eventually, through the Civil and Voting Rights Acts, African Americans would receive the legal equality they deserved for so long (Berkin et al., 2015). -
Native Americans - The Unresolved Sin
Before European settlers, Natives ruled North America. However, events and imperialism continued to push them off their lands and to reservations where most currently reside. Throughout history, Europeans and Americans subjected them to brutal treatment. Furthermore, though they reside in the U.S., they are still not citizens of the country and do not receive any benefits. Many live without electricity or access to services and drive miles just for water (Kruhly, 2012). This remains a great sin.