In our federal system though, its crucial to make sure people have the right to vote in the states they live. It was even more crucial in the context if the era

In our federal system though, its crucial to make sure people have the right to vote in the states they live. It was even more crucial in the context if the era that the 14th amendment was written in, where states as independent nations willingly participating in the Union with the ability to opt out for whatever reason (slavery) was just put to the test and resolved. At that time, state identity was so strong that people like General Lee saw themselves as Virginians first, Americans second, which led him to fight for the confederacy. Its still an incredibly important distinction and concept today, just having been resolved so thoroughly by now it seems almost weird to think the way the people that wrote that amendment thought. We say the United states is now, but there was a time when we said these united states are instead.