Citizenship means someone who has a stake in the nation and responsibilities to it, who must support it, with taxes and defend it during wartime, who is represented and respected; who can participate in the decision making process by voting, and who has a right to be protected by its government" Unfortunately, according to some there were individuals who did not deserve this privilege. Between 1607-1864 there was always controversy on who was allowed to be citizen. In 1607 England ruled and as time went on colonist began to break away, they didn't want to pay the taxes England was forcing them to pay. They felt they could do better on their own and broke away from the English government. The American Revolution was the outcome and as a result elite white men who owned property and paid taxes thought they were the only ones who deserved the privilege of citizenship, but this left out 70% of the population; which included non elite white males, Indians, African Americans and Women. In the following paragraphs I hope you will see the struggles that these groups went through and show you if they ever became citizens.
             Non elite white males had to gain land if they wanted citizenship and to be able to pay taxes, this qualification made the process difficult. May poor white men were Indentured servants, in 1607 who never got to escape from the poverty they had sought, half of them died before every receiving the land they were promised. With the requirement for citizenship being to have land and pay taxes how would this be on an indentured servants or poor farmers' salary. The Fundamental Constitution of 1667 showed us that only rich have voting rights, and citizenship. Poor whites had no rights and to gain citizenship you had to owned land. With this as an requirement the poor white where out of luck, it was impossible for them to acquire land. This made it impossible for hard working Americans to become citizens. ...