- Joined
- Jan 7, 2013
- Location
- Long Island, NY
Look, the notion that one has to have the right to vote and hold office to be a citizen is specious. I was born a US citizen, yet I was deprived of the right to vote for 18 years. I could not serve as president until I was thirty-five. Does that mean that I was not a citizen until I was 35?He didn't have full rights of citizenship when he died, thus his citizenship was not restored (brought back to its original state) before he died.
At the time of the Civil War, most Americans could not vote till they were 21. Does that mean Union soldiers under 21 were non-citizen soldiers?
Felons can't vote in many states, yet they are still citizens of the United States.
Blacks became citizens when the 14th Amendment was ratified, yet they were still denied the vote in many states until the 15th Amendment was ratified.
Women could not vote in many states until less than 100 years ago, but they were still citizens of the United States.
Some parts of the U.S. allowed non-naturalized immigrants to vote. Voting did not make these immigrants citizens.
It is anachronistic to assume that voting and citizenship are so intimately tied together that you can't have one without the other.