Speech #880047694

The power given is. in terms. by congressional legislation. to enforce the provisions of the amendment. The assumption that this amendment consists wholly of prohibitions upon State laws and State proceedings in hostility to its provisions. is unauthorized by Its language. The first clause of the first section-"All persons born or naturalized in the United States. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. are citizens of the United States. and of the State wherein they reslde"-is of a distinctly affirmative character. In its application to the colored race. previously liberated. it created and granted. as well citizenship of the United States. as citizenship of the State in which they respectively resided. It introduced all of that race. whose ancestors had been imported and sold as slaves. at once. into the political community known as the "People of the United States." They became. instantly. citizens of the United States. and of their respective States.