Perceptions of the United States as a nation of immigrants are so commonplace that its history as a nation of emigrants is forgotten. However, once the United States came into existence, its citizens immediately asserted rights to emigrate for political allegiances elsewhere. Quitting the Nation recovers this unfamiliar story by braiding the histories of citizenship and the North American borderlands to explain the evolution of emigrant rights between 1750 and 1870.
Eric R. Schlereth traces the legal and political origins of emigrant rights in contests to decide who possessed them and who did not. At the same time, it follows the thousands of people that exercised emigration right citizenship by leaving the United States for settlements elsewhere in North America. Ultimately, Schlereth shows that national allegiance was often no more powerful than the freedom to cast it aside. The advent of emigrant rights had lasting implications, for it suggested that people are free to move throughout the world and to decide for themselves the nation they belong to. This claim remains urgent in the twenty-first century as limitations on personal mobility persist inside the United States and at its borders.
- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations and Maps
- Introduction. A Nation of Emigrants
- Chapter One. Choice Not Chance
- Chapter Two. A Spirit of Emigration
- Chapter Three. Human Ramparts
- Chapter Four. Human Balloons
- Chapter Five. The Expatriating Crusade
- Chapter Six. Voluntary Mexicans
- Chapter Seven. Lawless Spirits
- Chapter Eight. My Bones Are a Property Bequeathed to Me
- Epilogue. A World of Emigrants
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
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Yes, you can access Quitting the Nation by Eric R. Schlereth in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & North American History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.