The Indian Citizenship Act (Snyder Act) of 1924 admitted Native Americans born in the United States to full U.S. citizenship. In 1868, the 14th Amendment declared that all persons “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” were citizens. However, the “jurisdiction” requirement was interpreted to exclude most Native Americans, and in 1870, the Senate Judiciary Committee further clarified the matter: “the 14th amendment [sic] to the Constitution has no effect whatever upon the status of the Indian tribes within the limits of the United States.” Similarly, although the 15th Amendment, which passed in 1870, granted all U.S. citizens the right to vote regardless of race, it wasn’t until the Snyder Act that Native Americans were recognized as citizens and could fully exercise their rights guaranteed by the 15th Amendment.

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An excerpt from the Indian Citizenship Act (Snyder Act) that was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge on June 2, 1924. Until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, Native Americans occupied an unusual status under federal law. Some Native American women had acquired citizenship by marrying white men. Some Native American men received citizenship through military service, by receipt of allotments, or through special treaties or statutes. But the majority of Native Americans were still not citizens, and they were barred from the ordinary processes of naturalization open to foreigners. Congress took what some saw as the definitive step on June 2, 1924, granting citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States.

“Be it enacted by the Senate and house of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that all non-citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States: Provided that the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Indian to tribal or other property.”