The language of the Constitution. as has been well said. could not be understood without reference to the common law. 1 Kent Com. 336. Bradley. Jr. in Moore v. United States. 91 US 270. 274." The cited provisions of the 14th Amendment had a purpose to enfranchise the recently freed negro slaves. whether they were native born or naturalized. The purpose was to make noncitizens citizens. It did no more than establish citizenship where none previously existed. It did not even purport to make a foreign born citizen a natural born one. In Smith v. Alabama. 124 US 465. at page 478 Justice Matthews stated: "There is. however. one clear exception to the statement that there is no national common law.
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noncitizens foreign born naturalized