es to him and his descendants the equal
protection of the law in all that relates to his life, his liberty,
and his property. The first section of the Constitutional amendment
which includes these invaluable provisions is in fact a new charter
of liberty to the citizens of the United States; is the utter
destruction of the pestilent heresy of State-rights, which constantly
menaced the prosperity and even the existence of the Republic; and is
the formal bestowment of Nationality upon the wise Federal system
which was the outgrowth of our successful Revolution against Great
Britain.

Before the adoption of this Amendment citizenship of the United States
was inferred from citizenship of some one of the States, for there was
nothing in the Constitution defining or even implying National
citizenship as distinct from its origination in or derivation from a
State. It was declared in Article IV, Section 2, of the Federal
Constitution, that "Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all
the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States;" but
nothing was better known than that this provision was a dead letter
from its very origin. A colored man who was a citizen of a Northern
State was certain to be placed under the surveillance of the police if
he ventured south of the Potomac or the Ohio, destined probably to be
sold into slavery under State law, or permitted as a special favor to
return at once to his home. A foreign-born citizen, with his
certificate of naturalization in his possession, had prior to the war
no guarantee or protection against any form of discrimination or
indignity, or even persecution, to which State law might subject him,
as has been painfully demonstrated at least twice in our history. But
this rank injustice and this hurtful inequality were removed by the
Fourteenth Amendment. Its opening section settled all conflicts and
contradiction on this question by a comprehensive declaration which
defined National citizenship and gave to it precedence of the
citizenship of a State. "_All persons born or naturalized in the
United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of
the United States and of the States wherein they reside_." These
pregnant words distinctly reversed the origin and character of
American citizenship. Instead of a man being a citizen of the United
States because he was a citizen of one of the States, he was now made
a citizen of any State in which he mi