According to The Federalist Papers Project, Howard wrote, in part, “that every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States.”
But Howard continued, “This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons.”
The 14th Amendment was created to confer citizenship upon only the former slaves who had recently been freed during the Civil War. It was not intended to be make a citizen of any person who just so happened to be born on U.S. soil to foreign parents in the country, legally or otherwise.
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