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That Time American Women Lost Their Citizenship Because They Married Foreigners

None of these rules applied to American men when they chose a spouse.
Couples stand in line to obtain their marriage licenses in this photograph, taken sometime between 1915 and 1920. The 1907 Expatriation Act would have affected people trying to get married during this time period — though the couples depicted in this photo were not necessarily affected by the Expatriation Act.

In March of 1907, Congress passed the Expatriation Act, which decreed, among other things, that U.S. women who married non-citizens were no longer Americans. If their husband later became a naturalized citizen, they could go through the naturalization process to regain citizenship.

But none of these rules applied to American

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