¹ Jefferson’s position is clearly stated in his autobiography. See Works of Thomas Jefferson (P. L. Ford ed., New York, 1904), Vol. I, p. 14. For further evidence of his ideas, see the instructions given to the first delegation from Virginia to the Continental Congress in August, 1774. Writings of Thomas Jefferson (A. A. Lipscomb ed., Washington, 1903), Vol. I, pp. 185–186.

² Works of Thomas Jefferson (Ford ed.), Vol. XII, pp. 66–67.

³ Ibid., p. 66. For the law itself, see Hening, W. W., Statutes at Large (Richmond, 1819–1823), Vol. X, p. 129.

⁴ Quoted in Webster, Prentiss, A Treatise on the Law of Citizenship in the United States (Albany, 1891), p. 92.

⁵ An account of the case is to be found in Wharton, Francis, State Trials of the United States during the Administrations of Washington and Adams (Philadelphia, 1849), pp. 49 el seq.

⁶ American State Papers, Foreign Relations, Vol. I, p. 169. (Hereafter cited A. S. P. F. R.) In 1806 Jefferson expressed the further opinion that an individual who had expatriated himself under the Virginia law must go through the regular forms of naturalization as prescribed by Congress in order to regain his citizenship. Writings of Albert Gallatin (Henry Adams ed., Philadelphia, 1879), Vol. I, p. 302.

⁷ Writings of Jefferson (Lipscomb ed.), Vol. XIX, p. 236.

⁸ Works of Thomas Jefferson (Ford ed.), Vol. XII, p. 66.

⁹ Works of Alexander Hamilton (H. C. Lodge ed., New York, 1904), Vol. IV, p. 256. Nos. 1 and 2 of the “Letters from Phocian” deal with the question.

¹⁰ Annals of Congress, 15th Cong., 1st Sess., col. 1049.

¹¹ Tucker, St. George, How Far the Common Law of England is the Law of the United States (Richmond, 1800), pp. 37–38.

¹² Swift, Z., A System of the Laws of the State of Connecticut (Windham, Conn., 1795–96), Vol. I, p. 1.

¹³ Ibid., p. 164.

¹⁴ Annals of Congress, 3rd Cong., 2d Sess., col. 1005.

¹⁵ Ibid.

¹⁶ Ibid., col. 1027. If they had expatriated themselves they were no longer American citizens.

¹⁷ Ibid., col. 1028.

¹⁸ Ibid., cols. 1028–1029.

¹⁹ Annals of Congress, 3rd Cong., 2d Sess., col. 1030.

²⁰ Benton, T. H., Abridgment of the Debates of Congress from 1789–1856 (New York, 857), Vol. II, p. 149.

²¹ Ibid., p. 150.

²² Ibid., p. 151.

²³ Annals of Congress, 10th Cong., 1st Sess., col. 1871.

²⁴ Wharton, State Trials, p. 85. For the account of a less celebrated case, in which a Pennsylvania court defined expatriation as the throwing off of allegiance to one country without necessarily acquiring allegiance to another, see Moore, J. B., Digest of International Law (Washington, 1906), Vol. Ill, p. 554.

²⁵ Jansen v. The Christina Magdalena, Bee’s Reports, p. 23.

²⁶ Printed in Opinions of the Principal Officers of the Executive Departments, and other Papers relating to Expatriation, Naturalization, and Change of Allegiance, United States, Department of State (Washington, 1873), p. 21. Talbot was an American-born citizen who had taken service in the French navy and brought a captured Dutch vessel into an American port. War existed between France and Holland, but not between the United States and Holland.

²⁷ Talbot v. Jansen, 3 Dall. 133.

²⁸ Ibid., p. 164. This was really obiter dicta, for the court decided that, whether there was a right of expatriation or not, Talbot was still a citizen of the United States.

²⁹ Wharton, State Trials, pp. 652 et seq.

³⁰ 4 Cranch, 214. Decided in 1808.

³¹ 2 Mumford’s Repts., 393.

³² Ainslie v. Martin, 9 Mass. 461. Decided in 1813.

³³ Brackenridge, H. H., Law Miscellanies (Philadelphia, 1814), pp. 409–411. The entire account of the affair is found here.

³⁴ Ibid., p. 411.

³⁵ The London Gazette, Oct. 27 to Oct. 31, 1812, No. 16662, p. 2163.

³⁶ Madison to John Binns, Feb. 11, 1813. Letters and Other Writings of James Madison (Philadelphia, 1865), Vol. II, p. 558.

³⁷ The entire correspondence relating to this episode, together with that concerning impressed Americans in British ships during the war, is printed in the Annals of Congress, 13 th Cong., 1st and 2d Sess., cols. 2102–2238.

³⁸ A. S. P. F. R., Vol. III, p. 696.

³⁹ Report of the Committee of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts on Impressed Seamen (Boston, 1813), p. 3.

⁴⁰ Foreien Office Manuscripts. 5/16.

⁴¹ A. S. P. F. R.. Vol. III. 85–86.

⁴² See Instructions to United States Ministers, Dept. of State, Vol. XI, pp. 94–95.

⁴³ Others include one by H. H. Brackenridge published in his book Law Miscellanies; A Treatise on Expatriation, Anonymous (Washington, 1814); An Essay on Naturalization and Allegiance, Anonymous (Washington, 1816).

⁴⁴ It was entitled A Treatise on Expatriation and was published anonymously in Washington in 1814.

⁴⁵ An anonymous English writer, commenting on Hay’s pamphlet, wrote, “There are two ways of bearing false witness, the suggestio falsi, and the suppressio vedi. This writer is a master of both.” Right and Practice of Impressment (London, 1814), p. 14.

⁴⁶ Lowell, J., Review of a Treatise on Expatriation by G. Hay (Boston, 1814).

⁴⁷ Marshall to Pickering, April 11, 1814. Printed in Greenwood, F. W. P., Sermon on Death of John Lowell, LL.D. (Boston, 1840), p. 15. Marshall wrote, “Could I have ever entertained doubts on the subject, this review would certainly have removed them. Mingled with much pungent raillery is a solidity of argument and an array of authority which in my judgment is entirely conclusive. But in truth it is a question upon which I never entertained a scintilla of doubt, and have never yet heard an argument which ought to excite doubt in any sound and reflecting mind.”

⁴⁸ This statement was not accurate. Some of the men had been naturalized, but not all.

⁴⁹ Hotise Journal, 15th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 284.

⁵⁰ See especially speech of McLane, of Delaware, Feb. 28, 1818, Annals of Congress, 15th Cong., 1st Sess., col. 1058.