…why your female ancestor born in the United States was not a U.S. citizen?  The reason goes back to a 1907 US law which removed a woman’s citizenship if she married a non-citizen!  This was part of the fall-out of fears of masses of immigrants coming to the US.  In 1922, two years after the passage of the 19th amendment  granting women the right to vote, the law was amended – now it allowed women to retain their US citizenship if they married a non-citizen who was eligible for citizenship.  In other words, someone who was not prohibited from becoming a citizen.  That law was later repealed, and a woman’s (or man’s) US citizenship is not revoked due to the citizenship status of their spouse.

Now comes the news: A resolution introduced by Senators Franken (D-MN) and Johnson (R-WI) on March 27 ( http://beta.congress.gov/113/bills/sres402/BILLS-113sres402is.pdf ) and currently before the Senate Judiciary Committee, apologizes for the 1907 Expatriation Act. To read more see the Los Angeles Times article at : http://tinyurl.com/l5hpt4t Original url: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-apology-20140420,0,5493306.story#axzz2zSDuuEUl

Thank you, Jan Meisels Allen for bringing this to our attention.