However undesirable their presence may have been after their liberation from the bonds of slavery. they were with us without any fault of their own. and statesmen and philanthropists of that period. prompted by feelings of common humanity. had great concern for their welfare. It was eminently unjust to exclude them absolutely from membership in the body politic. to deny them any participation In political affairs. to withhold from them the privileges and immunities of citizenship. and still make them. even In part. the basis of representation in the lower House of Congress and the electoral college. Out of the discussion of this. important and complex situation the fourteenth amendment was born. the first section of which defines citizenship. providing that 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. This section further provides that no State shall make or enforce any l.v 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. This part of the fourteenth amendment nationalized civil liberty.
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naturalized