After reading chapter 2 of the book, two main arguments stood up for me. The issue of birthright citizenship and the issue of naturalization.
Birthright citizenship was an important issue during the 1990s. According to the book, most people acquired citizenship by birth rather through naturalization. This action reflected the fact that racism was still very present. Immigrants, even though they lived for several years could never get the citizenship which was not right. The 1990s was the time of the prerequisite laws which helps us to understand the history of the racial discrimination in the laws of birthright citizenship. the fact that the US constitution for the first time stated that Under Jus Soli, citizenship is applied to every person …show more content…
Scott was an enslaved man who fought for his freedom in the federal court but the court supported the slaveholding. Later on after the civil war, this decision was dismissed by the Civil Rights Acts of 1866. The Civil Right Act declared very clearly without any ambiguity that all person born in the United States of America are citizens of the country. From this Act, the Jus Soli became part of the fourteen amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they …show more content…
From this time on, only black and white people where eligible for naturalization. This white and black policy ruled naturalization laws for a quite a long time. The fact that the society increased the hatred toward people from Asian in particular led to the ineligibility of Chinese from naturalization in 1882. The prohibition of Chinese naturalization in the USA was the first law that stated clearly the exclusion of a particular nationality from citizenship: “Chinese persons not born in this country have never been recognized as citizens of the United States, nor authorized to become such under the naturalization laws.” Stated by the Supreme
Birthright citizenship was an important issue during the 1990s. According to the book, most people acquired citizenship by birth rather through naturalization. This action reflected the fact that racism was still very present. Immigrants, even though they lived for several years could never get the citizenship which was not right. The 1990s was the time of the prerequisite laws which helps us to understand the history of the racial discrimination in the laws of birthright citizenship. the fact that the US constitution for the first time stated that Under Jus Soli, citizenship is applied to every person …show more content…
Scott was an enslaved man who fought for his freedom in the federal court but the court supported the slaveholding. Later on after the civil war, this decision was dismissed by the Civil Rights Acts of 1866. The Civil Right Act declared very clearly without any ambiguity that all person born in the United States of America are citizens of the country. From this Act, the Jus Soli became part of the fourteen amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they …show more content…
From this time on, only black and white people where eligible for naturalization. This white and black policy ruled naturalization laws for a quite a long time. The fact that the society increased the hatred toward people from Asian in particular led to the ineligibility of Chinese from naturalization in 1882. The prohibition of Chinese naturalization in the USA was the first law that stated clearly the exclusion of a particular nationality from citizenship: “Chinese persons not born in this country have never been recognized as citizens of the United States, nor authorized to become such under the naturalization laws.” Stated by the Supreme