I am not a lawyer although I have been accused of being one during some local land-use matters. As discussed in recent posts about Leon Boutwell that led to me stumbling across citizenship issues for Indians related to conscription for World War I. As noted, Boutwell was a citizen and was drafted, but many others were ineligible for the draft due to being non-citizens.
I then learned the reason Indians as a group were not made citizens by the 14th Amendment. It was because they were already citizens of other tribes or nations with which the government had established treaties and the 14th Amendment specifically excepted people not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the federal government.
Legislation was necessary to make all American Indians citizens. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, aka the Snyder Act, was enacted to achieve that end and signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge (in photo). This law applied to about 125,000 people, approximately one-third of the Indians living in the United States at that time. That many distrusted the government is understandable and not all Indians wanted citizenship. Some feared it would erode tribal sovereignty, force assimilation, violate treaties, and subject Natives to state laws without consent. They considered citizenship being forced on them rather than granted to them. The Onondagas petitioned to have the bill repealed but were unsuccessful. However, Indians weren’t granted full citizenship. It took the 1965 Voting Rights Act to guarantee their voting rights.
In recent years, the citizenship of children born in America to citizens of foreign countries has been a subject of debate. It would seem that legislation similar to the Snyder Act would be necessary to grant citizenship to these children.
Tom Benjey's Weblog 
