MARRIED WOMEN’S ACT

The Expatriation Act in 1907, mandated that “any American woman who marries a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband.” Harriot Stanton, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, married a man from the United Kingdom and lost her American citizenship. After his death, she moved back to America and petitioned to become a U.S. Citizen again in 1911. The “Married Women’s Independent Nationality Act” or the “Married Women’s Act” passed on September 22, 1922, and repealed the 1907 Expatriation Act.

Author: US National Archives

Photo: NY National Archives

The Expatriation Act in 1907, mandated that “any American woman who marries a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband.”

Harriot Stanton, daughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, married a man from the United Kingdom and lost her American citizenship. After his death, she moved back to America and petitioned to become a U.S. Citizen again in 1911. The “Married Women’s Independent Nationality Act” or the “Married Women’s Act” passed on September 22, 1922, and repealed the 1907 Expatriation Act.

This week, we’ll be featuring documents about women in honor of Friday’s National Conversation on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, hosted at National Archives at New York in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Watch the livestream: http://bit.ly/2bIHudq

Document: Petition of Naturalization for Harriot Stanton Blatch, 1911, Records of the District Courts of the United States, National Archives at New York City.