What did it mean to be a citizen during the late-18th and early-19th centuries?
Why and how did early American sailors seem intent on proving their citizenship to the United States?
In this episode, we explore citizenship and maritime life during the Age of Revolution with Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, an Assistant Professor of History and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California and author of Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Each episode features a conversation with a historian who helps us shed light on important people and events in early American history.
Episode Summary
In this episode, we explore citizenship and maritime life during the Age of Revolution with Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, an Assistant Professor of History and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California and author of Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolutions.
During our exploration, Nathan reveals what daily life was like for American sailors during the late-18th and early-19th centuries; Details about privateer, merchant, naval, and fishing vessels; And, what it meant to be a citizen of a nation during the late-18th and early-19th centuries and how early American sailors attempted to prove their citizenship to the United States.
What You’ll Discover
- Daily life for American sailors during the late-18th and early-19th centuries
- Work early American sailors performed
- Early American sailor demographics
- Privateers and how they differed from merchant and naval vessels
- Risks and rewards of privateering
- Impact privateers made during the American Revolution and War for Independence
- Details about the American Navy during the War for Independence
- Differences in sailor discipline and work on privateer, merchant, naval, and fishing vessels
- What it meant to be a citizen in the late-18th and early-19th centuries
- Differences in the meaning of citizenship around the Atlantic World
- How the American Revolution altered European definitions of citizenship
- Differences between being a citizen and a subject
- How Americans transitioned from British subjects to American citizens
- The principle of “common sense nationality” and how American, British, and French sea captains used it
- How American sailors attempted to prove their citizenship to the United States
- Early American citizenship papers and certificates
- How early American sailors obtained citizenship paperwork from the United States government
- African-American sailors and United States citizenship
Links to People, Places, and Publications
- Nathan Perl-Rosenthal
- Nathan’s USC webpage
- Citizen Sailors: Becoming American in the Age of Revolution
- Ariela Gross, What Blood Won't Tell: A History of Race on Trial in America
Time Warp Question
In your opinion what might have happened if France had not had its revolution and gone to war with Great Britain? How would the development of American citizenship identification documents have changed? Would the development of this paperwork have been necessary if France and Great Britain had not been impressing American sailors?
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