Loss of American Nationality

T HE NATURE of United States citizenship was vague and undefined in the early days of our history,1 but even less definitive was the concept of loss of citizenship. The executive and judicial arms of the government were left to fumble with the problem until finally, in 1907, Congress defined by statute the ways in which American citizenship could be lost. Quantitatively speaking, the problem of loss of citizenship was minute, for between 1790 and 1907 the ratio of immigrants to emigrants was literally a thousand to one. But, in the conduct of American foreign relations, the existence or non-existence of the of created many thorny problems. When the Congress passed, and President Washington approved, the Naturalization Act of 1790, the United States adopted as public policy one facet of the doctrine of expatriation. The naturalization statute assumed that immigrants from foreign shores possessed the to abjure their previous allegiance and become citizens of the United States. With regard to the other aspect, that a citizen of the United States could assume foreign nationality at will, the Congress was silent. Political leaders were split into two groups over the question. Jefferson and his followers held expatriation to be a natural and inherent right of the individual.2 Hamilton and the Federalists opposed expatriation as contrary to the common law and law of nations. The Hamiltonian attitude towards

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• Een tweede paspoort

  Open Access•Betty De Hart, Betty Hart de•Een tweede paspoort•2012

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• The Expatriation Decisions

  Open Access•John P Roche•American Political Science Review•1964

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