were to find in that instrument anything which deprived of their citizenship any part of the people
of the United States who were among those by whom it was established.

I can find nothing in the Constitution which, proprio vigore, deprives of their citizenship
any class of persons who were citizens of the United States at the time of its adoption, or who
should be native-bom citizens of any State after its adoption; nor any power enabling Congress to
disfranchise persons born on the soil of any State, and entitled to citizenship of such State by its
constitution and laws. And my opinion is, that, under the Constitution of the United States, every
free person born on the soil of a State, who is a citizen of that State by force of its Constitution or
laws, is also a citizen of the United States.

I will proceed to state the grounds of that opinion.

The 1 st Section of the 2d Article of the Constitution uses the language, "a natural-born
citizen." It thus assumes that citizenship may be acquired by birth. Undoubtedly, this language
of the Constitution was used in reference to that principle of public law, well understood in this
country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, which referred citizenship to the place of
birth. At the Declaration of Independence, and ever since, the received general doctrine has
been, in conformity with the common law, that free persons born within either of the colonies
were subjects of the King; that by the Declaration of Independence, and the consequent
acquisition of sovereignty by the several States, all such persons ceased to be subjects, and
became citizens of the several States, except so far as some of them were disfranchised by the
legislative power of the States, or availed themselves, seasonably, of the right to adhere to the
British Crown in the civil contest and thus to continue British subjects.

[Curtis then maintained that "it is left to each state to determine what free person bom
within its limits, shall be citizens of such state, and thereby be citizens of the U.S."]

"The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of
citizens of the several States." Nowhere else in the Constitution is there anything concerning a
general citizenship; but here, privileges and immunities to be enjoyed throughout the United
States, under and by force of the national compact, are granted and secured. In selecting those
who are to enjoy these national rights of citizenship — how are they described? As citizens of
each State. It is to them these national rights are secured. The qualification for them is not to be
looked for in any provision of the Constitution or laws of the United States. They are to be
citizens of the several States, and, as such, the privileges and immunities of general citizenship,
derived from and guarantied by the Constitution, are to be enjoyed by them. It would seem if it
had been intended to constitute a class of native bom persons within the States, who should
derive their citizenship of the United States from the action of the Federal Government, this was
an occasion for referring to them. It cannot be supposed that it was the purpose of this article to
confer the privileges and immunities of citizens in all the States upon persons not citizens of the
United States.

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