Under the Starry Flag – exploring the historical context of the 1867 Expatriation Act
Update: February 8, 2025 (citizenship issues) …
In it’s response to Roger Ver’s application to dismiss the charges against him the U.S. Government has reiterated it’s position that there is no constitutional right to expatriation! If this claim were correct (as a matter of law) it would mean that renunciation would be available ONLY with the permission of the U.S. Government! Does the Government fully understand the implications of the claim that there is no constitutional right to renounce U.S. citizenship?
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Update: December 8, 2024 (tax issues) …
The recent case of Roger Ver raises constitutional issues (both tax and citizenship) surrounding “expatriation”. I recently participated in a podcast (discussing/introducing these issues) with U.S. tax lawyer Virginia La Torre Jeker here.
Interestingly this appears to have triggered interesting discussion on X.com by U.S. immigration lawyer Parviz Malakouti here. This discussion reminded me of this 2019 post about Professor Lucy Salyer’s book “Under The Starry Flag”. When I revisited the post I noticed that:
1. Professor Salyer appears have deleted her X.com account. I mention this because her old X.com handle @SalyerLucy is now being used by somebody else. Perhaps it is best to NOT delete social media accounts …
2. Some of the links in the original post are no longer working. I have decided to leave the links (even whey they are no longer working) intact.
I predict that Professor Salyer’s book (“Under The Starry Flag“) and research will be discussed as the Ver litigation moves through the courts.
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On to the original 2019 post …
https://twitter.com/SalyerLucy/status/1100508102581985281
In 2018 Professor Lucy Salyer of the University of New Hampshire published “Under the Starry Flag” – a book largely about the 1868 Expatriation Act. The book describes a period in American history where Britain treated its “subjects” as having perpetual loyalty to the British Crown. To put it simply: One could NOT emigrate to America and expatriate. No matter what one did, those who were born British Subjects were destined to die British Subjects.
The above tweet links to an interview of Professor Lucy Salyer conducted on February 9, 2019. The interview is about Professor Salyer’s new book “Under the Starry Flag”. It is a fascinating (brilliantly researched) work. The publisher describes the book as:
The riveting story of forty Irish Americans who set off to fight for Irish independence, only to be arrested by Queen Victoria’s authorities and accused of treason: a tale of idealism and justice with profound implications for future conceptions of citizenship and immigration.
In 1867 forty Irish American freedom fighters, outfitted with guns and ammunition, sailed to Ireland to join the effort to end British rule. Yet they never got a chance to fight. British authorities arrested them for treason as soon as they landed, sparking an international conflict that dragged the United States and Britain to the brink of war. Under the Starry Flag recounts this gripping legal saga, a prelude to today’s immigration battles.
The Fenians, as the freedom fighters were called, claimed American citizenship. British authorities disagreed, insisting that naturalized Irish Americans remained British subjects. Following in the wake of the Civil War, the Fenian crisis dramatized anew the idea of citizenship as an inalienable right, as natural as freedom of speech and religion. The captivating trial of these men illustrated the stakes of extending those rights to arrivals from far-flung lands. The case of the Fenians, Lucy E. Salyer shows, led to landmark treaties and laws acknowledging the right of exit. The U.S. Congress passed the Expatriation Act of 1868, which guarantees the right to renounce one’s citizenship, in the same month it granted citizenship to former American slaves.
The small ruckus created by these impassioned Irish Americans provoked a human rights revolution that is not, even now, fully realized. Placing Reconstruction-era debates over citizenship within a global context, Under the Starry Flag raises important questions about citizenship and immigration.
In the 19th Century Britain regarded its subjects as subjects for life. Many Americans abroad will appreciate how the book applies to their lives in the 21st century. To put it simply: Americans abroad are treated as primarily Americans citizens – even though they are often citizens and residents of other countries. The FATCA IGAs are the most obvious example of this reality. (Shades of the British – History does have a way of repeating itself.) Renunciation is desirable, difficult, expensive (and for those who are in the U.S. tax system – inevitable). For many Americans abroad:
“All Roads Lead To Renunciation.”
Furthermore, dual citizens (for example the accidental Americans in France) are beginning to request that their countries of citizenship/residence intervene and assist their citizens in breaking ties with the United States. History does repeat itself.
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