In the United States, citizenship is a legal status that gives people certain rights and responsibilities under the law. Legal citizens can vote in elections, apply for a passport, serve on juries, and receive protection under the Constitution. While many people feel like they belong to a community or country in a broader sense, being a legal citizen means being officially recognized by the government.
Two Main Paths to Citizenship
There are two main ways a person becomes a legal U.S. citizen: birthright citizenship and naturalization.
Birthright citizenship means that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen. This rule comes from the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed in 1868. It states:
“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 reside.”
This means that people born on U.S. soil are legal citizens, regardless of their parents’ citizenship status.
Naturalization is the legal process for people born outside the U.S. to become citizens. To qualify, individuals must usually live in the country for several years, pass a background check, show basic English skills, and take a test on U.S. history and government. Finally, they take an oath of allegiance. Once naturalized, they have the same legal rights and responsibilities as citizens by birth.
Expanding Citizenship Over Time
At the founding of the country, citizenship was limited. The Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted naturalized citizenship to free white men. This excluded women, Indigenous peoples, enslaved people, and many immigrants.
Over time, citizenship was expanded through constitutional changes, court decisions, and laws. After the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment gave birthright citizenship to formerly enslaved people. In 1898, the Supreme Court decision United States v. Wong Kim Ark confirmed that children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents are citizens under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Citizenship has also been extended through treaties. After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), many people in former Mexican territory became U.S. citizens. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted U.S. citizenship to all Indigenous peoples born in the United States, recognizing their legal status nationwide.
Citizenship Today
Today, most U.S. citizens either gain citizenship at birth or become citizens through the naturalization process. New citizens are welcomed in ceremonies held across the country, often taking place in schools, courthouses, or historic landmarks.
Although the laws have changed over time, citizenship remains a key part of American democracy. Understanding how citizenship is granted—and how it has changed—helps us understand who is included in the legal system and how that inclusion has grown over time.