The Citizenship Clause

One of the Reconstruction Amendments the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted July 9th 1868.


The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution was ratified July 9th 1868. The Amendment gave citizenship to all persons who were “born or naturalized in the United States”. This included the former slaves. It also made it illegal for states to deny due process or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”