Pros And Cons Of Being An American Citizen

Pros And Cons Of Being An American Citizen

When legislation on Native Americans is being made in the U.S., one of the biggest considerations that is put in it, is preserving their culture and way of life. Before they universally had citizenship within the United States, tensions were created regarding whether they would have to give up their native ways of life in order to be a citizen. This situation is similar to one little island territory today; where the denizens wish to retain their way of life, yet many of them want citizenship. American Samoa, a country between Hawaii and Australia, is a United States territory. But what is misleading about that statement, is that American Samoans, despite the territory having the prefix of "American," are not U.S. citizens; instead they fall ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...The U.S. constitution, more specifically the 14th amendment, had defined the terms for U.S. citizenship, before American Samoa was even a territory. In 1868, the 14th amendment, designed to create an end Jim Crow laws, had stated 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 State wherein they reside"(Ponsa). Within this statement lies the question which should determine American Samoan citizenship; is American Samoa part of the U.S.? The answer to this question is fairly simple, and it is a resounding yes. Other U.S. territories have already been granted citizenship, but, it is not the result of this amendment. Instead it is the result of statutes from congress; of which American Samoa has none. An attempt has been made at using the 14th amendment in the case of Tuaua v. United States, but the petition has been denied by the Supreme Court(Ponsa). Even the American Samoan government was opposed to this measure, saying: "'recognizing a right to citizenship at birth could complicated the legal structure in the territory'"(Ponsa). How could giving American Samoa citizenship, like every other territory, complicate legal structure? If other states were perfectly able to gain citizenry, how could American Samoa not? Yet despite these myriad of questions, and many more, the U.S. government does not seem like they are gonna give in with their decision that the 14th amendment is not a valid way to

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