Mr. Gresham to Mr. Runyon .

No. 270.]

Sir: Your No 232, of the 28th ultimo, in relation to the citizenship of one Charlie Ehrlich, a minor, born in the United States, has been received.

After reciting the facts, you say:

As he was horn in the United States, and does not appear to be subject to any foreign power (the German Government, it appears, makes no claim that he is a German subject), I regarded him as being a citizen of the United States and entitled to a passport accordingly, and one was therefore issued to him as desired.

This implies that you had in mind section 1992, Revised Statutes, which reads:

All persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are declared to be citizens of the United States.

This section is taken literally from section 1 of the civil rights act of April 9, 1866, portions of which were embodied in the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, which reads:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

In delivering the opinion of the circuit court of the United States in California, in re Look Tin Sing (21 Fed. Rep., 905), Justice Field said:

A person born in the United States of Chinese parents not engaged in the diplomatic service of any foreign government, is born subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and is a citizen thereof, under the provisions of the fourteenth amendment to the national Constitution.

This ruling was followed in re Wong Gan (36 Fed. Rep., 554).

Ehrlich is a citizen of the United States irrespective of any claim of any other Government to his allegiance, and you correctly issued a passport to him.

I am, etc.

W. Q. Gresham.