Citizens

The concept of citizenship contemplated under the 1787 document represented a break with the notion of what it meant to be a subject of the British Crown or even a citizen of one of the thirteen colonies or states that would become the United States. According to English law at the beginning of the seventeenth century, being a subject involved a perpetual, immutable relationship of allegiance in return for protection by the sovereign or monarch. The colonies, to quickly assimilate new colonists and thus increase the population and the work force, found a more liberal interpretation expedient.

In the new states and new nation, however, the definition of citizenship was unclear. James Madison, in essay 42 of The Federalist (1787–88) (see Federalist Papers), written in support of ratification of the Constitution, pointed out the problem under the Articles of Confederation (1781). “In the fourth article … it is declared ‘that the free inhabitants of each of these States, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States; and the people of each State shall, in every other, enjoy all privileges of trade and commerce. …' There is a confusion of language here which is remarkable,” Madison concludes. The framers of the Constitution might be excused their imprecision about a concept that was still evolving and that meant one thing at the state level and another at the national level. The decision of Robert E. Lee at the beginning of the Civil War to honor his obligations to the Commonwealth of Virginia over those to the nation exemplifies the dichotomy.

Unlike other national constitutions, the Constitution requires of U.S.. citizens no express duties of citizenship. In light of the theory that the document represents a grant of powers by the states and the citizens to the national government, they had no reason to place duties on themselves.

The idea expressed in Article VI, section 2—that all citizens share the same “Privileges and Immunities”—is continued in the Fourteenth Amendment (1868), section 1: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (see Due Process; Equal Protection). On the surface, the Constitution treats citizens equally, although certain qualifications regarding citizenship are required for certain offices. The Constitution requires a specific number of years of citizenship for candidates for Congress—seven for representatives and nine for senators—and requires that a person be a natural-born citizen to be president.

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