Citizenship
In the early city-states of ancient Greece, a man named Solon enacted reforms that reshaped how ordinary people lived within their communities. The word polis meant both the political assembly and the entire society itself. Citizens called themselves polites, a term derived from the Greek word for city. This status marked them as distinct from women, slaves, and resident foreigners known as metics. Aristotle famously stated that taking no part in community affairs made one either a beast or a god. Slavery permitted slave-owners to have substantial free time, which enabled participation in public life. Historian Geoffrey Hosking suggests that fear of being enslaved was a central motivating force for this development. Citizenship obligations were deeply connected to everyday life rather than abstract rights. To be truly human required active citizenship within the community. In Athens, citizens served as both rulers and ruled through rotated political offices. All citizens held the right to speak and vote in the political assembly.
The Roman Empire expanded citizenship from small-scale communities to cover its entire territory. Romans realized granting citizenship to people from all over legitimized rule over conquered areas. Roman citizenship evolved into a judicial safeguard rather than a status of political agency. A citizen came to be understood as a person free to act by law. They could ask for and expect legal protection within their specific community. The law itself acted as a bond uniting diverse people across the empire. Roman ideas reflected a struggle between upper-class patricians and lower-order plebeian groups. Citizens gained rights to possess property, titles, goods, and immunities available in many degrees. One historian explained that these rights varied based on reason and type of person. Rome offered relatively generous terms to captives including chances for lesser forms of citizenship. This sense increasingly reflected that citizens could act upon material things as well as other citizens. The concept became impersonal, universal, and multiform with different applications throughout history.
From 1790 until the mid-twentieth century United States law used racial criteria to establish citizenship rights. The Naturalization Act of 1790 barred citizenship to all people who were not of European descent. It stated any alien being a free white person residing within limits for two years might become a citizen. Under early laws African Americans were not eligible for citizenship. In 1857 the Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandford ruled that a free negro was not a citizen under the Constitution. The ruling declared special rights guaranteed to citizens did not apply to them. It was not until abolition following the American Civil War that African Americans received citizenship rights. The 14th Amendment ratified on the 9th of July 1868 stated all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens. Two years later the Naturalization Act of 1870 extended rights to aliens of African nativity and descent. Despite these gains Native Americans Asians and others remained denied ability to become citizens. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act explicitly denied naturalization rights to all people of Chinese origin. Supreme Court cases like Ozawa v. the United States clarified that ethnically Japanese and Indian people were not white persons.
Nazism classified inhabitants into three main hierarchical categories each with different rights regarding the state. Citizens possessed full civic rights and responsibilities but were conferred only on males of German heritage who completed military service. The Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 established racial criteria stripping Jews and others of their citizenship if they could not prove German racial heritage. Subjects referred to all others born within nation boundaries who did not fit racial criteria for citizenship. These subjects had no voting rights and could hold no position within the state. All women were conferred subject status upon birth unless they worked independently or married a German citizen. Aliens formed the final category referring to those who were citizens of another state with no rights. In 2021 the German government passed a law entitling victims of Nazi persecution and descendants to become naturalized German citizens. This system enforced racial hierarchies by legally defining who belonged and who was excluded from protection. The state could revoke citizenship at any time under these specific conditions.
The liberal-individualist conception suggests citizens should have entitlements necessary for human dignity. It assumes people act for purpose of enlightened self-interest while being sovereign morally autonomous beings. Citizens have duties to pay taxes obey laws engage in business transactions and defend nation if attacked. They are essentially passive politically with primary focus on economic betterment. This idea began appearing around seventeenth and eighteenth centuries becoming stronger over time. The civic-republican conception emphasizes man's political nature seeing citizenship as active process not passive legal marker. It is relatively more concerned that government will interfere with popular places to practice citizenship in public sphere. Citizenship means being active in government affairs according to this view. Most people today live as citizens according to liberal-individualist conception but wish they lived more according to civic-republican ideal. An ideal citizen exhibits good civic behavior showing commitment to duty and civic virtue. Free citizens and republic government remain mutually interrelated within this framework.
The Maastricht Treaty introduced concept of citizenship of the European Union establishing it as additional to national citizenship. Every person holding nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union under Article 17. An agreement known as amended EC Treaty established certain minimal rights for European Union citizens. Articles provided limited right to free movement and residence in other Member States beyond their own. Union citizens hold extensive rights to move in order to exercise economic activity in any Member State. Citizenship of Mercosur was approved in 2010 through Citizenship Statute fully implemented by member countries in 2021. Commonwealth Citizenship has been in place since establishment of Commonwealth of Nations offering privileges within some countries. In United Kingdom all Commonwealth citizens legally residing can vote and stand for office at all elections. Canada departed from principle of nationality defined in terms of allegiance in 1921 introducing distinct Canadian Citizenship via Act of 1946. The fundamental basis of Swiss citizenship is membership of an individual commune from which follows canton and Confederation status. Residents of Åland enjoy special provincial citizenship within Finland known as hembygdsrätt.
Common questions
What did the word polis mean in ancient Greece?
The word polis meant both the political assembly and the entire society itself. Citizens called themselves polites, a term derived from the Greek word for city.
When was the 14th Amendment ratified to grant citizenship rights to African Americans?
The 14th Amendment was ratified on the 9th of July 1868 stating all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens. This amendment followed abolition after the American Civil War when African Americans received citizenship rights.
How did the Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 affect Jewish people under Nazism?
The Reich Citizenship Law of 1935 established racial criteria stripping Jews and others of their citizenship if they could not prove German racial heritage. Citizens possessed full civic rights but were conferred only on males of German heritage who completed military service.
Which treaty introduced citizenship of the European Union as additional to national citizenship?
The Maastricht Treaty introduced concept of citizenship of the European Union establishing it as additional to national citizenship. Every person holding nationality of a Member State shall be a citizen of the Union under Article 17.
What rights did Roman citizenship evolve into compared to political agency?
Roman citizenship evolved into a judicial safeguard rather than a status of political agency. A citizen came to be understood as a person free to act by law and could ask for and expect legal protection within their specific community.