Which Amendment Says Persons Born or Naturalized Here Are Citizens? Civics Question 97

The answer is the 14th Amendment.

Question 97 quotes the line saying that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are U.S. citizens, and asks which amendment says it. The accepted answer is the 14th Amendment. Saying “the fourteenth” is enough.

What the 14th Amendment Says

The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, three years after the Civil War ended. Its first sentence defines who is a citizen of the United States.

It names two paths to citizenship. One is being born in the country. The other is naturalization, which is the legal process a person goes through to become a citizen.

Before this amendment, the Constitution did not define national citizenship. The amendment settled it, starting with the people who had just been freed from slavery.

Why the Officer Asks This

Naturalization is the word for what you are doing. The amendment that names your path to citizenship is the one this question asks about, and the officer asking is part of that process.

The answer also anchors the amendments that came out of the Civil War, which show up elsewhere on the test.

How to Remember the 14th

Count the three amendments that followed the Civil War in order, and give each one a single word: free, citizen, vote.

• 13th. Slavery is abolished. Free.
• 14th. People born or naturalized here are citizens. Citizen.
• 15th. Race cannot be used to stop a citizen from voting. Vote.

The order follows the logic. First people were freed, then they were made citizens, then the vote was protected. Citizenship is the middle step, so it takes the middle number.

Common Ways People Get This Wrong

The 13th and the 15th are the two near misses. The 13th ended slavery and the 15th protects the vote, and neither one defines citizenship.

Some applicants say the Bill of Rights. Those are the first ten amendments, ratified in 1791, and they came long before this one.

What to Say on Test Day

Say “the 14th Amendment.” Then stop.

You do not need to quote the wording, name the year, or explain what naturalization means. The number and the word amendment are the whole answer.