The American Civil War and the Transatlantic Triumph of Volitional Citizenship

Quigley, Paul

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-40268-0_3

Cited by 2 publications

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“…On the other side, both the Union and the Confederacy's position that immigrants from Britain and all other countries owed duties of local allegiance and protection to their country of residence, including wartime military service, resulted in protests by British diplomatic representatives, who insisted that their subjects in America were still their subjects and ought to be exempted from the draft. 113 A compromise was reached during the Civil War between US Secretary of State William Seward and his British counterpart, Lord John Russell, allowing resident aliens, including British subjects, to avoid conscription by leaving the US within 65 days before 12 July 1863. 114 The US Government would deem those who remained, or who voted in a US election, to have transferred their allegiance to the US, rendering them liable to serve in the union's military forces, without any UK objections.…”

Section: The Controversy Over Allegiance and Expatriation In Great Br...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Protecting Minorities from De Facto Statelessness: Birthright Citizenship in the United States

Sullivan¹

2022

SCR

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Birthright citizenship is the subject of intense political debate in the United States because of its connection to the debate over unauthorised immigration and the inclusion of national minorities. Similar debates have taken place in other common law countries, leading to the restriction of jus soli birthright citizenship in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. The Supreme Court of the United States and United States Department of State’s interpretation of the Citizenship Clause in § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment ensures that all ‘persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States’, including the children of unauthorised immigrants. This article argues that the rule of jus soli birthright citizenship in the United States is rooted in an older understanding of the birthright of native-born British subjects, and later, American citizens, to enjoy the birthright of protections and an ever-expanding set of rights based on where they were born, regardless of the status of their parents. Stated in a way that included the children of slaves and immigrants as citizens based on their birthplace alone, jus soli birthright citizenship in the United States remains a powerful tool of inclusion for marginalised minority groups.

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Section: The Controversy Over Allegiance and Expatriation In Great Br...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Protecting Minorities from De Facto Statelessness: Birthright Citizenship in the United States

Sullivan¹

2022

SCR

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The Impressment of Foreign-Born Soldiers in the Union Army

Douma

Rasmussen²,

Faith

2019

Journal of American Ethnic History

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In 1862–1863 well over one thousand foreign-born men living in the United States argued that they had been illegally drafted into Union military service. Fearing a diplomatic row, the Lincoln administration sought to clarify the rules of draft eligibility and its relation to citizenship. William Seward, secretary of state, determined to include in the pool of potential draftees men who had filed their declaration of intent to become American citizens and men who had voted in any election in the United States. Seward’s policy, already in action in 1862, partially codified in the Enrollment Act of March 3, 1863, and further enunciated in circulars from the Departments of State and War, broadened and redefined the nature of American citizenship. By highlighting the parallels to earlier forms of impressment, and breaking new ground with a quantitative analysis of the Department of State’s Case Files on Drafted Aliens, we argue that this history of forced military service for foreign-born soldiers during the American Civil War should be considered an example of impressment. With additional source material from archives in England, the Netherlands, and Denmark, we demonstrate the extent of Union impressment and its transnational character. Concerns about forced service were widespread and had significant consequences for Union foreign relations with European countries and for immigrant communities domestically. Official complaints about impressment represented a new kind of draft resistance, in which legal and political knowledge, as well as local and regional immigrant networks, were essential for securing freedom from military service.

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The American Civil War and the Transatlantic Triumph of Volitional Citizenship

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Protecting Minorities from De Facto Statelessness: Birthright Citizenship in the United States

Protecting Minorities from De Facto Statelessness: Birthright Citizenship in the United States

The Impressment of Foreign-Born Soldiers in the Union Army

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