Thread: Analysis of the Meaning of the 14th

Historical Analysis of the Meaning of the 14th Amendment's First Section
By P.A. Madison
Last updated on January 31, 2008

See here for my analysis of the Citizenship Clause.
Note: The work herein is nearly complete, but not totally. Additions, editing and clarifications will follow as time allows.

CIVIL RIGHTS CASES (109 U.S., 3. 1883) Summary

John A Bingham
John A. Bingham

Thaddeus Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens

Jacob M Howard
Jacob M. Howard

Lyman Trumbull
Lyman Trumbull


John Farnsworth


William P. Fessenden


* The Equal Protection Clause embodies the 5th Amendment's “any personâ€

Remember that before there was a 14th amendment there was a military draft for men.There was never any intention to split up families whom diplomats,forgien vistors,etc who went into labor while in the US but was not a citizen nor under the jurisdiction (government responsible for the acts of this person,for example sabatoge,assination,person could not be hung for being traitor or spy) so thier children who may be born in US during thier stay would not be a citizen therefore they would not have to return to the US TO SERVE in the armed forces of the US and be torn from thier family or even have to fight against that nation if they later sided against it in conflict.COMMON SENSE.Besides if you read the transcripts during the debate of the 14th amendment all were in agreement that children of forgieners would not be forced(how arrogant and racist is that to assume the forgien country is such a gutter compared to the US) to stay in US or become citizens.

During the debates of the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause, both its primary framers, Sen. Jacob Howard and Sen. Lyman Trumbull listened to concerns of including such persons as Chinese, Mongolians, and Gypsies to citizenship. Additionally, Sen. Fessenden raised the question of persons born of parents from abroad temporarily in this country, and of course, the question of Indians. Chinese, if one remembers their history, where a major concern on the part of citizens on the pacific coast and occupied a great deal of the news of the time (mostly all negative).

Sen. Trumbull attempted to assure Senators that Indians were not “subject to the jurisdictionâ€

Right On ,and remember at the time they were promising indians thier own' little countries' which they had no intention of keeping but the indians did not want to be under the whitemans law ,be its citizen or under its jurisdiction