Did any postwar Confederates become stateless?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SeaTurtle
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SeaTurtle

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Either legally or just as a self-identification? There are stories of die-hard Confederates packing up and leaving for other parts of the world (particularly Latin-American states that still had slaves, like Brazil) because they refused to be "reconstructed" as US subjects, but I haven't found much detail on whether any took this the extra step and renounced US nationality entirely.

There are plenty of examples in history of people who, willingly or otherwise, became stateless after the otherthrow of a government in their home region. The thousands of "White Russians" who fled abroad after the overthrow of the Tsar and became stateless because they refused to swear loyalty to the Soviets is one example. I was just curious if any Confederates ended up in a similar situation, even if only in rare cases.
 
Okay. I suspect there might have been a legal issue (uncertainty) involving the validity of both voluntary and any statute-imposed expatriation procedures.

Yes, my hunch is that renouncing US nationality to become stateless wasn't clearly defined in US law circa late 1860s-70s. The 1868 act seems to have mostly been about naturalised Americans returning to their birth countries, rather than native-born citizens leaving abroad.
 
Yes, my hunch is that renouncing US nationality to become stateless wasn't clearly defined in US law circa late 1860s-70s. The 1868 act seems to have mostly been about naturalised Americans returning to their home countries, rather than native-born citizens leaving abroad.

Agree. I understand that there was a legislatively-imposed right to expatriate, but the recognized procedure for exercising it was uncertain.
 
Wasn't Robt. E. Lee technically a 'stateless' person even though he never left the country? If I recall correctly, he was denied the pardon that many other Confederate leaders received and it wasn't until the 1970s that Congress restored his citizenship. Doesn't that mean he wasn't a citizen for the final five years of his life, and therefore technically a stateless person?
 
Thanks for that info. 1868 still falls within the period when ex-Confederates were moving abroad, so I wonder if any chose to renounce US nationality after that date?

Just a point about your remark that there were "no passports" before the 20th century. There absolutely were, just not in the way we think of them today. A pre-20th century passport was more of a specific document for a given journey, rather than a book you carry around for years getting stamped each time you travel to another country. These documents could include a description of the traveler, where they were from and where they were going, etc. Different countries had their own requirements during the 19th century re: passports. Some didn't require them at all. Some did. For example, here's a quote from The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (Second Edition, Cambridge University Press):

"In early 1879, the Imperial government imposed passport requirements on those coming from Russia ... Travelers returning to Germany from Russia were now required to have in their possession a passport that had been visaed within three days of their departure by the German embassy in Saint Petersburg or by a German consular official, and visaed again upon their arrival at the German border ... [an] update of the law abolished visa requirements entirely on those returning from Russia, but left the passport requirement intact."

I'm not aware whether the kinds of countries ex-Confederates were traveling to (like Brazil) required them for foreign entrants. But that's one of the reasons I asked about nationality for those Confederate exiles.

Thanks for that info. 1868 still falls within the period when ex-Confederates were moving abroad, so I wonder if any chose to renounce US nationality after that date?

Just a point about your remark that there were "no passports" before the 20th century. There absolutely were, just not in the way we think of them today. A pre-20th century passport was more of a specific document for a given journey, rather than a book you carry around for years getting stamped each time you travel to another country. These documents could include a description of the traveler, where they were from and where they were going, etc. Different countries had their own requirements during the 19th century re: passports. Some didn't require them at all. Some did. For example, here's a quote from The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (Second Edition, Cambridge University Press):

"In early 1879, the Imperial government imposed passport requirements on those coming from Russia ... Travelers returning to Germany from Russia were now required to have in their possession a passport that had been visaed within three days of their departure by the German embassy in Saint Petersburg or by a German consular official, and visaed again upon their arrival at the German border ... [an] update of the law abolished visa requirements entirely on those returning from Russia, but left the passport requirement intact."

I'm not aware whether the kinds of countries ex-Confederates were traveling to (like Brazil) required passports for foreign entrants. But that's one of the reasons I asked about nationality for those Confederate exiles.
Per this source the US didn't require passports except during the ACW and not sure how well enforced that was and from 1918 to 1921. US Passports weren't really required until 1941 when very few people who lived during the ACW were alive.
So if an Ex Confederate went pretty much any place in the world it wasn't an issue and he or she didn't require a passport. As a general rule Latin American countries were willing to accept immigrants and indeed most Latin American countries did indeed accept quite a few immigrants especially from Europe and the Middle East during the Nineteenth Century. If an Ex Confederate exile had a bit of money they should have no problem being intergrated into the local communities. Learning Portugese or Spanish isn't terribly difficult if one needs to learn it quick.
Leftyhunter
Thanks for that info. 1868 still falls within the period when ex-Confederates were moving abroad, so I wonder if any chose to renounce US nationality after that date?

Just a point about your remark that there were "no passports" before the 20th century. There absolutely were, just not in the way we think of them today. A pre-20th century passport was more of a specific document for a given journey, rather than a book you carry around for years getting stamped each time you travel to another country. These documents could include a description of the traveler, where they were from and where they were going, etc. Different countries had their own requirements during the 19th century re: passports. Some didn't require them at all. Some did. For example, here's a quote from The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (Second Edition, Cambridge University Press):

"In early 1879, the Imperial government imposed passport requirements on those coming from Russia ... Travelers returning to Germany from Russia were now required to have in their possession a passport that had been visaed within three days of their departure by the German embassy in Saint Petersburg or by a German consular official, and visaed again upon their arrival at the German border ... [an] update of the law abolished visa requirements entirely on those returning from Russia, but left the passport requirement intact."

I'm not aware whether the kinds of countries ex-Confederates were traveling to (like Brazil) required passports for foreign entrants. But that's one of the reasons I asked about nationality for those Confederate exiles.
So the biggest obstacle for Ex Confederate's to immigrate is financial. Obviously saving Confederate money didn't help. When the war ended Jefferson Davis after he got out of prison was broke and he and his older brother Joseph couldn't even sell their large plantations for a good price and had to self finance the sale of their plantations to an ex slave. When the es slave couldn't make the sale they had to accept a deep discounted price from a white buyer.
Davis himself supported his family by being the president of a life insurance company then by being an author and a popular lecturer. Does who put their assets in land and slaves such has former Lt General Forrest were basically bankrupt after the ACW
Sir, James and Irvine Bulloch did not receive the general amnesty from the federal government after the Civil War so decided to stay in Liverpool. Not sure that made them 'stateless'.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
For the most part being stateless is more of a Twentieth Century concept. We can't imagine a time or find it difficult to conceive of a time when if you wanted to go or even immigrate you just packed your bags ,bought a passage on a ship and just went.
Leftyhunter
Just because the USA didn't require passports doesn't mean other countries didn't require them from foreign entrants. US law stops at the US border. What if 19th century Brazil required all foreign travellers to have a passport at their border, like in my example from 19th century Germany?

I think we need to know more detail about the immigration laws in some of the countries inhabited by Confederate exiles. Unfortunately, that's far from my area of expertise.
Travel was so much more informal back in the Nineteenth Century yes Brazilian officials could check travel documents but tens of thousands of people many very poor immigrated to Brazil indeed all of Latin America . It's not like today.
Leftyhun
Just because the USA didn't require passports doesn't mean other countries didn't require them from foreign entrants. US law stops at the US border. What if 19th century Brazil required all foreign travellers to have a passport at their border, like in my example from 19th century Germany?

I think we need to know more detail about the immigration laws in some of the countries inhabited by Confederate exiles. Unfortunately, that's far from my area of expertise.
Approximately 20k Ec Confederate's and their families immigrated to Brazil so no immigration wasn't that difficult in the Nineteenth Century as it would be well over one hundred years latter.
Leftyhunter
Just because the USA didn't require passports doesn't mean other countries didn't require them from foreign entrants. US law stops at the US border. What if 19th century Brazil required all foreign travellers to have a passport at their border, like in my example from 19th century Germany?

I think we need to know more detail about the immigration laws in some of the countries inhabited by Confederate exiles. Unfortunately, that's far from my area of expertise.
From 1877 to 1903 an average of 71k immigrants about 53% Italians immigrated to Brazil. Said immigrants were hardly wealthy . If an American wanted to immigrate to Brazil no passports required they just went.
I'd like to know what their nationality was recorded as when they arrived. Immigration in the 19th-century may have been more informal than today, but that doesn't mean there weren't border checks and records kept. What nationality were the Confederate immigrants listed as when they arrived in Brazil or elsewhere? US citizen, CS citizen, or something else?
There was no such thing as a Confederate citizen since the Confederacy was never recognized as a nation . There's a fair chance that there was no formal Brazilian immigration procedure untill the Twentieth Century.
Leftyhunte
I'd like to know what their nationality was recorded as when they arrived. Immigration in the 19th-century may have been more informal than today, but that doesn't mean there weren't border checks and records kept. What nationality were the Confederate immigrants listed as when they arrived in Brazil or elsewhere? US citizen, CS citizen, or something else?
Brazil didn't even bother with a Census until 1872 decades after independence from Portugal. Latin American countries in the Nineteenth Century were just very informal about immigration in the Nineteenth Century.
I couldn't say. That's why I opened this thread to ask about this topic.
I think we're over thinking this issue. Has I stated earlier passports were rarely used in the Nineteenth Century. There were no income taxes . Immigration was much more informal in the Americas during the Nineteenth Century. There wasn't that much behind the concept of a " stateless person "post ACW. If anyone didn't like the way things were post ACW such has ex Confederate's then they would go where they thought they would be treated best. If things didn't work out no big deal as they could come back once all the amnesties we're granted which is pretty much by 1868. The whole concept of citizenship and international travel became more complicated by the time most of the people who lived during the ACW were long dead and buried.
Leftyhunter
 
Just as an aside, when I first read Sea Turtle's original post, I was reminded of a story I read (probably) in junior high: Edward Everett Hale's The Man Without a Country. I found it on line and read it again. Imagine my surprise when I found it was written in 1863 and was considered a pro-Union piece. Back in the day, I figured the school board was just giving us students an "America, Love It or Leave It" lesson. It was the mid-1960s at the time. Mr. Hale wrote so convincingly that readers then and since have believed that the piece was true or at least based on a true incident where "names have been changed to protect the innocent", but it's pure fiction. Perhaps Mr. Hale gave some consideration to statelessness being what Confederates deserved?

 
Henry Watkins Allen, Confederate Governor of Louisiana, went to Mexico when the war ended, and started the Mexico Times English-language newspaper. Allen died in April 1866 of a stomach disorder.
 
Henry Watkins Allen, Confederate Governor of Louisiana, went to Mexico when the war ended, and started the Mexico Times English-language newspaper. Allen died in April 1866 of a stomach disorder.

Do you know if he ever took Mexican citizenship? Or indeed if he remained a US national after his emigration?
 
https://www.taxesforexpats.com/expat-tax-advice/Expatriation-Law-History.html
Until 1868 American citizens could not expatriate their citizenship. Of course it didn't matter so much has there were no passports until the early Twentieth Century and no federal income tax until 1913 other then briefly during the ACW and then only on a very small percentage of the American population.
So expatriation was not that important a concept in the Nineteenth Century .
Leftyhunter
There were passports, even in the Civil War. I've found a few examples at Fold3. Of course it was just a document, but you had to swear allegiance (sp) to the US.
 
Thanks for that info. 1868 still falls within the period when ex-Confederates were moving abroad, so I wonder if any chose to renounce US nationality after that date?

Just a point about your remark that there were "no passports" before the 20th century. There absolutely were, just not in the way we think of them today. A pre-20th century passport was more of a specific document for a given journey, rather than a book you carry around for years getting stamped each time you travel to another country. These documents could include a description of the traveler, where they were from and where they were going, etc. Different countries had their own requirements during the 19th century re: passports. Some didn't require them at all. Some did. For example, here's a quote from The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (Second Edition, Cambridge University Press):

"In early 1879, the Imperial government imposed passport requirements on those coming from Russia ... Travelers returning to Germany from Russia were now required to have in their possession a passport that had been visaed within three days of their departure by the German embassy in Saint Petersburg or by a German consular official, and visaed again upon their arrival at the German border ... [an] update of the law abolished visa requirements entirely on those returning from Russia, but left the passport requirement intact."

I'm not aware whether the kinds of countries ex-Confederates were traveling to (like Brazil) required them for foreign entrants. But that's one of the reasons I asked about nationality for those Confederate exiles.

Thanks for that info. 1868 still falls within the period when ex-Confederates were moving abroad, so I wonder if any chose to renounce US nationality after that date?

Just a point about your remark that there were "no passports" before the 20th century. There absolutely were, just not in the way we think of them today. A pre-20th century passport was more of a specific document for a given journey, rather than a book you carry around for years getting stamped each time you travel to another country. These documents could include a description of the traveler, where they were from and where they were going, etc. Different countries had their own requirements during the 19th century re: passports. Some didn't require them at all. Some did. For example, here's a quote from The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (Second Edition, Cambridge University Press):

"In early 1879, the Imperial government imposed passport requirements on those coming from Russia ... Travelers returning to Germany from Russia were now required to have in their possession a passport that had been visaed within three days of their departure by the German embassy in Saint Petersburg or by a German consular official, and visaed again upon their arrival at the German border ... [an] update of the law abolished visa requirements entirely on those returning from Russia, but left the passport requirement intact."

I'm not aware whether the kinds of countries ex-Confederates were traveling to (like Brazil) required passports for foreign entrants. But that's one of the reasons I asked about nationality for those Confederate exiles.
Per this source the US didn't require passports except during the ACW and not sure how well enforced that was and from 1918 to 1921. US Passports weren't really required until 1941 when very few people who lived during the ACW were alive.
So if an Ex Confederate went pretty much any place in the world it wasn't an issue and he or she didn't require a passport. As a general rule Latin American countries were willing to accept immigrants and indeed most Latin American countries did indeed accept quite a few immigrants especially from Europe and the Middle East during the Nineteenth Century. If an Ex Confederate exile had a bit of money they should have no problem being intergrated into the local communities. Learning Portugese or Spanish isn't terribly difficult if one needs to learn it quick.
Leftyhunter
Thanks for that info. 1868 still falls within the period when ex-Confederates were moving abroad, so I wonder if any chose to renounce US nationality after that date?

Just a point about your remark that there were "no passports" before the 20th century. There absolutely were, just not in the way we think of them today. A pre-20th century passport was more of a specific document for a given journey, rather than a book you carry around for years getting stamped each time you travel to another country. These documents could include a description of the traveler, where they were from and where they were going, etc. Different countries had their own requirements during the 19th century re: passports. Some didn't require them at all. Some did. For example, here's a quote from The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship and the State by John Torpey (Second Edition, Cambridge University Press):

"In early 1879, the Imperial government imposed passport requirements on those coming from Russia ... Travelers returning to Germany from Russia were now required to have in their possession a passport that had been visaed within three days of their departure by the German embassy in Saint Petersburg or by a German consular official, and visaed again upon their arrival at the German border ... [an] update of the law abolished visa requirements entirely on those returning from Russia, but left the passport requirement intact."

I'm not aware whether the kinds of countries ex-Confederates were traveling to (like Brazil) required passports for foreign entrants. But that's one of the reasons I asked about nationality for those Confederate exiles.
So the biggest obstacle for Ex Confederate's to immigrate is financial. Obviously saving Confederate money didn't help. When the war ended Jefferson Davis after he got out of prison was broke and he and his older brother Joseph couldn't even sell their large plantations for a good price and had to self finance the sale of their plantations to an ex slave. When the es slave couldn't make the sale they had to accept a deep discounted price from a white buyer.
Davis himself supported his family by being the president of a life insurance company then by being an author and a popular lecturer. Does who put their assets in land and slaves such has former Lt General Forrest were basically bankrupt after the ACW
Sir, James and Irvine Bulloch did not receive the general amnesty from the federal government after the Civil War so decided to stay in Liverpool. Not sure that made them 'stateless'.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA
For the most part being stateless is more of a Twentieth Century concept. We can't imagine a time or find it difficult to conceive of a time when if you wanted to go or even immigrate you just packed your bags ,bought a passage on a ship and just went.
Leftyhunter
Just because the USA didn't require passports doesn't mean other countries didn't require them from foreign entrants. US law stops at the US border. What if 19th century Brazil required all foreign travellers to have a passport at their border, like in my example from 19th century Germany?

I think we need to know more detail about the immigration laws in some of the countries inhabited by Confederate exiles. Unfortunately, that's far from my area of expertise.
Travel was so much more informal back in the Nineteenth Century yes Brazilian officials could check travel documents but tens of thousands of people many very poor immigrated to Brazil indeed all of Latin America . It's not like today.
Leftyhun
Just because the USA didn't require passports doesn't mean other countries didn't require them from foreign entrants. US law stops at the US border. What if 19th century Brazil required all foreign travellers to have a passport at their border, like in my example from 19th century Germany?

I think we need to know more detail about the immigration laws in some of the countries inhabited by Confederate exiles. Unfortunately, that's far from my area of expertise.
Approximately 20k Ec Confederate's and their families immigrated to Brazil so no immigration wasn't that difficult in the Nineteenth Century as it would be well over one hundred years latter.
Leftyhunter
Just because the USA didn't require passports doesn't mean other countries didn't require them from foreign entrants. US law stops at the US border. What if 19th century Brazil required all foreign travellers to have a passport at their border, like in my example from 19th century Germany?

I think we need to know more detail about the immigration laws in some of the countries inhabited by Confederate exiles. Unfortunately, that's far from my area of expertise.
From 1877 to 1903 an average of 71k immigrants about 53% Italians immigrated to Brazil. Said immigrants were hardly wealthy . If an American wanted to immigrate to Brazil no passports required they just went.
I'd like to know what their nationality was recorded as when they arrived. Immigration in the 19th-century may have been more informal than today, but that doesn't mean there weren't border checks and records kept. What nationality were the Confederate immigrants listed as when they arrived in Brazil or elsewhere? US citizen, CS citizen, or something else?
There was no such thing as a Confederate citizen since the Confederacy was never recognized as a nation . There's a fair chance that there was no formal Brazilian immigration procedure untill the Twentieth Century.
Leftyhunte
I'd like to know what their nationality was recorded as when they arrived. Immigration in the 19th-century may have been more informal than today, but that doesn't mean there weren't border checks and records kept. What nationality were the Confederate immigrants listed as when they arrived in Brazil or elsewhere? US citizen, CS citizen, or something else?
Brazil didn't even bother with a Census until 1872 decades after independence from Portugal. Latin American countries in the Nineteenth Century were just very informal about immigration in the Nineteenth Century.
I couldn't say. That's why I opened this thread to ask about this topic.
I think we're over thinking this issue. Has I stated earlier passports were rarely used in the Nineteenth Century. There were no income taxes . Immigration was much more informal in the Americas during the Nineteenth Century. There wasn't that much behind the concept of a " stateless person "post ACW. If anyone didn't like the way things were post ACW such has ex Confederate's then they would go where they thought they would be treated best. If things didn't work out no big deal as they could come back once all the amnesties we're granted which is pretty much by 1868. The whole concept of citizenship and international travel became more complicated by the time most of the people who lived during the ACW were long dead and buried.
Left
There were passports, even in the Civil War. I've found a few examples at Fold3. Of course it was just a document, but you had to swear allegiance (sp) to the US.
There were a few as mentioned but abandoned by the end of the ACW. Basically in the Nineteenth Century even we'll into the Twentieth Century international travel was possible with our a passport . As the links that I provided shows passports weren't common until post WWI when their were few ACW survivors left. Plenty of low income people from Europe and the Middle East arrived in the Americas with no problems. There were not stateless Americans and they could pretty much go to wherever they could afford. Most Ex Confederate's chose Brazil.
Leftyhunter
 

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