Formerly, amid conflicting opinions and
decisions, it was difficult to exactly determine how far the doctrine of
perpetual allegiance was applicable to citizens of the United States.
Congress by the act of the 27th of July, 1868, asserted the abstract
right of expatriation as a fundamental principle of this Government.
Notwithstanding such assertion and the necessity of frequent application
of the principle, no legislation has been had defining what acts or
formalities shall work expatriation or when a citizen shall be deemed
to have renounced or to have lost his citizenship. The importance of
such definition is obvious. The representatives of the United States in
foreign countries are continually called upon to lend their aid and the
protection of the United States to persons concerning the good faith or
the reality of whose citizenship there is at least great question.
In some cases the provisions of the treaties furnish some guide; in
others it seems left to the person claiming the benefits of citizenship,
while living in a foreign country, contributing in no manner to the
performance of the duties of a citizen of the United States, and without
intention at any time to return and undertake those duties, to use the
claims to citizenship of the United States simply as a shield from the
performance of the obligations of a citizen elsewhere.
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