Marriage and Women's Citizenship in the United States, 1830-1934

IN THE UNITED STATES, where the creation of new citizens is an essential (if contested) tradition, there must certainly be more than one understanding of what citizenship is. A focus on immigration and naturalization emphasizes that citizenship is a political fiction, an identification that can be put on like new clothing by the properly readied wearer. Or taken off. Being a fiction does not mean that citizenship is false but that it is purposefully constructed, all the more reason that its meanings and the rewards and obligations it conveys may vary over time and among citizens. Citizenship represents not only the bond between an individual and a state but also a bond between one individual and many others. It represents an attachment to a political community, different from membership in a kinship group because the bonds are only figurative. The symbolic dimension is no less important than the material privileges and obligations that ensue from citizenship. Citizenship is a powerful instrument of social closure, in Rogers Brubaker's words. The boundedness of the citizenry marks the nation-state's power.1 Whatever else it entails, citizenship is a distinctive form of social classification that colors personal standing in any community. It confers an identity that may have deep personal and psychological dimensions at the same time that it expresses belonging. The same can be said for marriage. Marriage also is a civil status that can