First Principles
Constitutions
Public Policy Positions and Outcomes
Membership in a society is a matter of compact or contract among people, not a matter of inherent rights.
Political obligation is not the result of birth, it is the consequence of the voluntary consent of free individuals. Citizenship is not tied to a place but you must as a rational actor, as a human being with inherent rights, consent or agree to be governed by a particular regime.
14th Amendment
1st section All persons born or naturalized
1. Two requirements to become a Citizen you have to be born or naturalized in the United States.
2. Subject to the jurisdiction thereof
Equality Principle - All human beings are equal in their natural rights and their natural obligations
Consent Principle - is based on all men are created equal. Consent is required on both sides so it has to be mutual and reciprocal. All parties to the contract must agree both to be part of that society but also to the membership of all the other parties. It can not be one side imposing itself on the other, that is not a relationship of equals.
The Social Contract is an assemblage equal in number to the number of individuals who form the society - James Wilson
1780 Massachusetts Constitution, "The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals; it is a social compact by which the whole people covenant with each citizen and each citizen with the whole people that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good." https://www.nhinet.org/ma-1780-mob.htm
Each person has to agree to be part of the society but the consent also has to work in the other direction, the rest of the people in that society have to consent to take on the other person as a member of that society. If you don't have that mutual consent it is not a relationship of equals. If you don't have that mutual consent then it opens up the possibility that one party to the contract can simply impose his will on other parties to the contract.
The Founders rejected feudal obligation and birthright citizenship. Under the Constitution there are citizens but no subjects.
Each person has to agree to be part of the society but the consent also has to work in the other direction, the rest of the people in that society have to consent to take on the other person as a member of that society. If you don't have that mutual consent it is not a Relationship of Equals. If you don't have that mutual consent then it opens up the possibility that one party to the contract can simply impose his will on other parties to the contract. - Kevin Portteus, Professor of Politics Hillsdale College