Acquisition of American Citizenship

American citizenship is acquired in two ways: By birth. By naturalization. Birth. - For 150 years following the first settlement of the American Colonies their inhabitants were citizens and subjects of a foreign power. With the successful conclusion of tho Revolutionary War, terminating with the treaty of peace, 1783, all persons born in the United States before the Declaration of Independence could be regarded as American citizens. By the civil rights act of 1866 it was provided that - All persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are declared to be citizens of the United States. By the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution - 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 reside. It has been decided by the Supreme Court of the United States that the children of domiciled aliens born in the United States are citizens under the fourteenth amendment. This is also true of the children of alien parents ineligible to citizenship through naturalization.