All citizens must henceforth enjoy the delineated rights in the same way as “enjoyed by white citizens.” This wording represented a remarkable innovation. Up to this point, the concept of “whiteness” existed in the law as a mark of privilege (for example, in laws specifying that only white persons could vote, serve in the militia, or become naturalized citizens). Now, the civil rights of white Americans became a baseline, a standard that applied to all citizens, and freedom from legal discrimination for the first time was added to the list of citizens’ rights.
