Citizenship in the Atlantic World

Normally scholars, including historians of the Atlantic world, have traditionally strictly linked the concept of citizenship to that of the nation-state and its formation in the 19th and 20th centuries. This concept of citizenship emerged in the wake of the political and socioeconomic transformations resulting from the American and French Revolutions, on the one hand, and the Industrial Revolution, on the other. This modern perspective on citizenship is, however, quite restrictive, considering the term “citizen” has been employed since Antiquity to grant rights to individuals or groups living in a certain community, and because it disregards the social dimension of citizenship. The works listed in this article understand citizenship more extensively, defined as the ability to (a) participate in a political community, (b) enjoy individual or collective rights, and (c) share a sense of belonging. Atlantic history, with its focus on colonial or postcolonial multiethnic societies, has helped historians shift toward a social approach to citizenship studies. Understanding that social practices influence legal definitions of citizenship, and that there are not striking differences between the construction of citizenship in the different empires and states of the Atlantic world, this article is not based on chronological or spatial divisions, but essentially on social concepts.