where a white man was a party. They were
excluded from performing particular kinds of business, profitable and
reputable, and they were denied the right of suffrage. To meet the
difficulties arising from this state of things, the 14th and 15th
Amendments were enacted.

The 14th Amendment created and defined citizenship of the United States.
It had long been contended, and had been held by many learned
authorities, and had never been judicially decided to the contrary, that
there was no such thing as a citizen of the United States, except as
that condition arose from citizenship of some State. No mode existed, it
was said, of obtaining a citizenship of the United States except by
first becoming a citizen of some State. This question is now at rest.
The 14th Amendment defines and declares who should be citizens of the
United States, to wit: "All persons born or naturalized in the United
States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." The latter
qualification was intended to exclude the children of foreign
representatives and the like. With this qualification every person born
in the United States or naturalized is declared to be a citizen of the
United States, and of the State wherein he resides. After creating and
defining citizenship of the United States, the Amendment provides that
no State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the
privileges or immunities of a citizen of the United States. This clause
is intended to be a protection, not to all our rights, but to our rights
as citizens of the United States only; that is, the rights existing or
belonging to that condition or capacity. The words "or citizen of a
State," used in the previous paragraph are carefully omitted here. In
article 4, paragraph 2, of the Constitution of the United States it had
been already provided in this language, viz: "the citizens of each State
shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of the citizens
in the several States." The rights of citizens of the States and of
citizens of the United States are each guarded by these different
provisions. That these rights were separate and distinct, was held in
the Slaughter House Cases recently decided by the United States Supreme
Court at Washington. The rights of citizens of the State, as such, are
not under consideration in the 14th Amendment. They stand as they did
before the adoption of the 14th Amendment, and are fully guaranteed by
other provisions. The rights of citiz