Citizenship in the American Constitution

Abstract

In the view both of the ancients and of modern liberal political theorists, the relationship between the individual and the state is largely defined by the concept of citizenship. It is by virtue of his citizenship that the individual is a member of the political community, and by virtue of it that he has rights. Remarkably enough–and as I will suggest, happily–the concept of citizenship plays only the most minimal role in the American constitutional scheme.