Some of us may have similar stories in our genealogy-of American-born women
who lost their US citizenship when they married a foreigner. In 1907 the US
Congress passed the Expatriation Act which removed citizenship >from women
born in the US if they married a "foreigner". This left the woman without
citizenship and without a country. The law was passed over anxiety over the
growing number of immigrants to the US.

With the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution giving women the
right to vote, which was ratified in 1920, another law was passed in 1922
which allowed most women who married foreigners to be US citizens. This did
not cover s-born women who married mend ineligible for US citizenship-such
as Chinese immigrants.,

That restriction was later repealed. 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

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee