American Nationalism - Post-Civil War

Post-Civil War

The American Civil War marked the greatest transition in American national identity. The ratification of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments settled the basic question of national identity: Who was a citizen of the United States? Under the amendments, anyone born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction was a citizen, regardless of ethnicity or social status. However, Native Americans were not to gain citizenship under these amendments. In 1919 all Natives who had served in the military were granted full citizenship, but the rest of the Native Americans were not included as citizens until 1924, when the Indian Citizenship Act was passed by Congress.