Over the history of the United States, the conception of who is an American has elicited many reviews and changes over time. This means that from a historical context over the history of the country, there have been changes as to who or who is not an American. This paper will dive deeper into this issue by first alluding to what it means to be an American and then considering the groups that have been included or secluded from deserving American citizenship in consideration of ethics and civics. A sociocultural, economic and political analysis will be included in the essay.
Today, it can be seen that America is a society that encompasses people from many ethnic groups. The broad definition of an American citizen from a layman perspective is any individual who is a national or a citizen of the United States. However, as a more profound analysis shows, the concept of American citizen also includes dual citizens, permanent residents, legal immigrants as well as expatriates among other groups who have over the course of history pressed their case for inclusion. The notion of inclusivity into American citizenship can be analyzed from the perspective of these groups who have over time argued that they deserve full rights of citizenship. According to American law, due to the many ethnic groups in the country, their law does not equate nationality to either ethnicity or race. Rather, this equality is with permanent allegiance and citizenship.
History teaches that for most Americans, it was their ancestors who immigrated to the country. Others descended from those who had been brought to the country as slaves during the height of slave trade five centuries ago. According to Locke & Wright (2019), there were also Native Americans at this time, and more natives were incorporated following the 19th-century expansion of the country. This expansion continued well into the 20th century to include Northers Mariana, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. In 1868, the United States passed the 14th Amendment which talks about the pathways to becoming an American citizen. According to the law, an individual can become an American citizen through birth or naturalization. Studies show that the US can be considered a country of immigrants.
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Following the Declaration of Independence, there were protests against the limitation on the naturalization of foreigners. Subsequently, there was a change in the US constitution to allow for the establishment of a constant rule about naturalization. This rule gave the US federal government authority over immigration policies. From then, the fundamental rights of US citizens were outlined in the Bill of Rights. Consequently, in 1865, slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment although the freed slaves were not granted full citizenship rights. Locke & Wright (2019) explain that 1870 saw the Naturalization Act that extended citizenship rights to Africans who were former slaves. However, immigrants from Asian were not included in the citizenship, and they continued to press for their case. Further changes were experienced in 1882 when Chinese immigrants were banned from the US after the implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, but this was later repealed in 1943.
In 1898, the Supreme Court passed a ruling after a case involving Wong Kim that any child born while their parents are in the US should be granted citizenship. As such, the race or citizenship status of the parents would not be a barrier anymore. Residents of Puerto Rico were then granted US citizenship in 1917, and after four years, a quota law was passed with the aim of limiting the number of immigrants to the US regarding the sociocultural aspect of their country of origin. In 1924, US citizenship was extended to Native Americans by the Indian Citizenship Act. From a political analysis, primary documents establish that in 1940, it was a requirement as per the Alien Registration Act for non-citizens to be registered with the US government. Additionally, the US president had the authority to deport foreigners associated with security threats or espionage. Further political changes were implemented in 1952 following the Immigration and Nationality Act which led to the elimination of races as a barrier to citizenship or immigration.
The national origins quota system was abolished in 1965 and in its place, a preference system was installed to focus on the skills and relationships of immigrants. After that, in 1986, amnesty was granted to immigrants who had entered the country before January 1982 by the Immigration Reform and Control Act. More recently in 2001, the Immigration and Nationality Act was amended by the USA Patriot Act, subsequently widening the scope of individuals who were not allowed into the country or to be deported. This change was instituted to include issues regarding terrorism.
Conclusion
These changes on American citizenship are expected to continue especially with the Trump administration. Notably, the United States will be a country of citizens, immigrants, expatriates and other individuals from many ethnic and racial backgrounds as has been confirmed by the primary documents used for this paper. This topic has always been a bit sensitive as many people have many different opinions on how this issue should be handled. The great part about this country is that it is such a melting pot, people have come here from all over and in all different ways as history can teach us.
