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Why the left fears a citizenship question


Geee

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California must represent everyone who resides here no matter their status.”

– Gavin Newsom

Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution empowers the Congress to conduct a Census in "such manner as they shall by Law direct." Our founders empowered our citizens over government. To insure each citizen had a voice, they needed an accurate count of all persons living in this newly created nation. Upon ratification, every free man, woman and child living within the borders of our nation became a citizen when the last state signed on the dotted line. Therefore each legal citizen was entitled to have equal representation in Congress and have a voice in their government.

Since representation means power for the states, when it was time to select those to represent the citizens in Congress, a fury of arguments arose on the basis for determining how many House representatives each state was entitled to. Our first census asked six questions: the name of the household’s white male, and then the names of all others in the household: White males over 15; white males under 16; white females; all others including slaves. American Indians were counted by tribe regardless of sex or age. Every person residing in the U.S. was counted in the first census.

Although the debate concerning slaves and citizenship continued until the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, slaves were counted although they had no rights. Although the South knew that slaves were non-citizens, they wanted them counted anyway to increase their headcount in Congress. But northern states protested. This issue was only resolved in 1857, when Justice Roger Taney made the worst decision in Supreme Court history on Dred Scott v. Sandford. He ruled that since the rights of slaves were not identified by the Constitution, “Slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person.”:snip:

 

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