Question

Read the excerpt from the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. All persons born or naturalized in the United States . . . are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. The citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is important because it

limited the number of people who can become citizens.
gave everyone free passports if they became citizens.
was the first time the Constitution defined what a citizen is.
restricted freed enslaved people from becoming citizen

Answer 1

Answer on E2020 is C.

Answer 2

The answer is "The first time the Constitution defined what a citizen is". This is very important because not only is the first time the Constitution set down any hard and fast rules about who were "official" citizens of the United States, but also ties in the rights that citizens have which can not be infringed on. Being passed shortly after the end of the Civil War, it was rather hotly contested, especially since, among other things, former slaves would now officially be granted citizenship.