Citizen of Which Republic: Foreigners and the Construction of Citizenship in Revolutionary Central America, ca. 1808-1845

Jordana Dym 

What is a citizen? While the answer may now seem obvious or intuitive, for those defining national citizenship in the revolutionary Atlantic (ca. 1780-1840), the task was complex. How would independent American governments deal with the challenges not just of defining citizens of multi-ethnic populations but also of multinational ones? The vocal presence of voluntary migrants and their diplomatic representatives prompted local, regional, and international disputes over government authority to set the terms of residence, naturalization, and participation on their own soil. Which republic—local, country of residence, or country of origin—could or should determine the nature and extent of an individual’s citizenship? This paper examines the construction of national citizenship in Central America from the upheavals and constitutional monarchy that followed Napoleon’s invasion of Spain (1808-1821) through the first era of national development (1821-1845). It argues that Central American statesmen, foreign residents, and diplomats all drew from theories of international law (the Law of Nations) to participate in a process of codifying and standardizing definitions of the rights and privileges of “citizens” and “foreigners” in a series of important internal and international disputes.

[WP# 04CR011]