The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. ~ 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary Documents of

Cited and Quoted From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

Ratification by the states

Ratification of the amendment was bitterly contested. State legislatures in every formerly Confederate state, with the exception of Tennessee, refused to ratify it. This refusal led to the passage of the Reconstruction Acts. Ignoring the existing state governments, military government was imposed until new civil governments were established and the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified.^[19] It also prompted Congress to pass a law on March 2, 1867, requiring that a former Confederate state must ratify the Fourteenth Amendment before “said State shall be declared entitled to representation in Congress”.^[20]

The first twenty-eight states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment were:^[21]

• Connecticut – June 30, 1866
• New Hampshire – July 6, 1866
• Tennessee – July 18, 1866
• New Jersey – September 11, 1866 (Rescinded ratification – February 20, 1868/March 24, 1868; re-ratified – April 23, 2003)
• Oregon – September 19, 1866 (Rescinded ratification – October 16, 1868; re-ratified – April 25, 1973)
• Vermont – October 30, 1866
• New York – January 10, 1867
• Ohio – January 11, 1867 (Rescinded ratification – January 13, 1868; re-ratified – March 12, 2003)
• Illinois – January 15, 1867
• West Virginia – January 16, 1867
• Michigan – January 16, 1867
• Minnesota – January 16, 1867
• Kansas – January 17, 1867
• Maine – January 19, 1867
• Nevada – January 22, 1867
• Indiana – January 23, 1867
• Missouri – January 25, 1867
• Pennsylvania – February 6, 1867
• Rhode Island – February 7, 1867
• Wisconsin – February 13, 1867
• Massachusetts – March 20, 1867
• Nebraska – June 15, 1867
• Iowa – March 16, 1868
• Arkansas – April 6, 1868
• Florida – June 9, 1868
• North Carolina – July 4, 1868 (After rejection – December 14, 1866)
• Louisiana – July 9, 1868 (After rejection – February 6, 1867)
• South Carolina – July 9, 1868 (After rejection – December 20, 1866)

On July 20, 1868, Secretary of State William H. Seward certified that the amendment had become part of the Constitution on July 9, 1868, if withdrawals of ratification by New Jersey and Ohio were ineffective.^[22] The following day, Congress adopted and transmitted to the Department of State a concurrent resolution declaring the Fourteenth Amendment to be a part of the Constitution and directing the Secretary of State to promulgate it as such.^[23] Both New Jersey and Ohio were named in the congressional resolution as having ratified the amendment. Their inclusion as ratifying states by Congress goes to the merits of rescinding a ratification after it has been affirmed, and of approving a ratification after it has been rejected. It would appear that Congress has determined both have no impact on the ratification process – see Coleman v. Miller.^[23][24] Accordingly, Seward issued an unconditional certificate of ratification, dated July 28, 1868, declaring that the Fourteenth Amendment had been duly ratified by the requisite three-fourths of the states. During the preceding week, two additional states had ratified the amendment, which left no doubt that the amendment had indeed become operational.^[25]

The Fourteenth Amendment was subsequently ratified:^[21]

19th Century Ratification

• Alabama – July 13, 1868
• Georgia – July 21, 1868 (After rejection – November 9, 1866)
• Virginia – October 8, 1869 (after rejection – January 9, 1867)
• Mississippi – January 17, 1870
• Texas – February 18, 1870 (after rejection – October 27, 1866)
• Delaware – February 12, 1901 (after rejection – February 8, 1867)

20th Century Ratification

• Maryland – April 4, 1959^[26] (after rejection – March 23, 1867)
• California – May 6, 1959
• Kentucky – March 30, 1976 (after rejection – January 8, 1867)

Since Ohio and New Jersey re-ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 2003, all U.S. states that existed during Reconstruction have ratified the amendment.