Read The Passport in America: The History of a Document Online
Authors: Craig Robertson
Tags: #Law, #Emigration & Immigration, #Legal History
The Passport in America: The History of a Document (46 page)
As an analytical concept, a regime of verification includes the specific ways in which individual identity is defined, the evidence needed to verify that identity, and the authorities who could ultimately determine an individual’s (official) identity. Through practices of exclusion, a regime of verification renders a personal and legal identity that is useful to the state. From the second half of the nineteenth century, identification was organized and mediated through documents. These were practices of exclusion in that they legitimated and represented a centralized authority over more local practices. Thinking about the passport within a “regime” locates part of the
history of identification documents as a story of how officials and applicants ascertained what sort of ability or what level of knowledge constituted mastery of documentary identification. Fluency had to develop in terms of what constituted an acceptable source and form of evidence. Officials also had to learn how to read identification documents, to recognize in the document both its authenticity and that of the person offering it. Critically, the successful documentary identification of an individual depended on recognition of when and how an identification document depended on an individual’s opinion. The reliable documentation of individual identity needed both a stable identity and a clearly defined identity category. While citizenship was increasingly verified through the linkage of documents, as a legal category it was not always so fluently expressed. NineteenthCentury debates over expatriation, the ongoing contested racial underpinnings of citizenship, and changes to the citizenship status of women in the 1920s all revealed dubious citizens. While debates about whiteness and gender caused a rethinking of the definition of citizenship, new definitions of citizenship were also made practicable through the demand that citizenship be verified through documents. In some cases, the application of passport regulations worked to “fix” a problematic aspect of citizenship. In other situations, the passport revealed arguments that challenged how the federal government used citizenship to manage difference.
In contrast to the racialized othering that concerned much of the emergence of the modern documentation of individual identity, the intensified articulation of the need to know someone in the contemporary world occurs within the logics of taste cultures and lifestyle clusters. In the twenty-first century, personal information is entwined in the broader technological transformation of information production. Concerns about identity have become critical to corporations and consumers, as well as corporations and their products. With information a key commodity, the principles of scientific management are now applied to consumption as well as production. A surveillance-based rationalization of consumption has become crucial to advertising and marketing. Individuals, identified as consumers, have increasingly become subject to information collection and identity verification. Loyalty cards and barcodes have resulted in the tracking of products that consumers take home with them, and “cookies” on web browsers automate the collection of personal information to provide data for market research.
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While it is important to note this move away from the state as the primary vendor of the collection and verification of individual identity, the problem
of identification continues to be thought of as one of objective information. Within the archival problematization of identity, digital practices of verification are now considered a necessary response to the new increased scale of identity demands. This current response is an updated version of the early twentieth-century development of identification into a practice of record keeping. While the novelty of the filing cabinet has long worn off, the contemporary fetishization of the “database” is the filing cabinet expanded to the new scale of contemporary identification practices. The archival problematization of identity defined objectivity as critical to the accurate verification of individual identity. Digital verification has moved the claimed authority of identification closer to that of a “mechanical objectivity,” if not a scientific objectivity, as proponents claim that the assessment of individuals is less necessary.
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This has been achieved as new technologies have been employed to offer a new set of relationships between the body, the archive, and the document.
The so-called “smart cards” of digital identification have the potential to communicate directly with archives in the form of information networks. Such a card, if it works as claimed, would effectively carry the archive in it, rather than point officials in the direction of an absent set of files stored in a faraway government facility, eliminating the need for humans to read documents. The REAL ID Act of 2005, which mandated improved security for drivers’ licenses and personal identity cards, also required that digital copies be made of supporting documents such as birth certificates. This digitization renders identity and documents more open to reproduction, distribution, and analysis—elements critical to accuracy as it is defined within the archival problematization of identity as information. The need for more efficient distribution and exchange of identity information has become critical to the increased circulation of information, goods, and people.
Of equal importance is the way in which digital technologies have enabled authorities to use the body in noncriminal identification practices. Historically, the spectacle of using the body remained fixed within the domain of criminal identification and the identification of other marginal populations. However, biometric technology has begun to make the body a more culturally acceptable site for accurate identification. The introduction of digital fingerprinting for all noncitizens entering the United States was championed in just this manner. After its introduction in early 2004, officials proclaimed it a success in that “no one seemed to mind at all.”
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The contrast with the indignity of ink fingerprinting was made apparent when the government of Brazil, which did seem to mind, introduced nondigital fingerprinting for U.S.
citizens in retaliation. Several U.S. citizens were arrested for refusing to comply; in one notable example, an American Airlines pilot “offered” his middle finger to the surveillance camera, not the official inkpad.
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Significantly, the introduction of stricter identification via passports and visas did not challenge the assumption that identity can be accurately documented; rather, it produced concerns about the particular way in which it was done. Similar concerns greeted post-9/11 documentation changes that affected U.S. citizens. The nature of the response to these changes is in distinct contrast to the passport nuisance of the 1920s. These differences attest to the acceptance of the documentation of individual identity as a modern necessity, and to the naturalization of the claim that identity can be documented. The extension of passport requirements for U.S. citizens flying home from Mexico, Canada, and the Caribbean in 2007 was presented as an inconvenience, especially when inadequate staffing in the State Department resulted in long delays in issuing passports. Recent unsuccessful attempts by some U.S. states to require voters to present photo identification, along with the less publicized introduction of documentary proof of citizenship for Medicaid recipients, has also led to debates over identification documents. However, opponents of these latter two measures argue that, intentionally or not, these demands discriminate against those who for a variety of reasons do not have the documents or supporting documents necessary to prove their citizenship.
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Therefore, the campaigns against these changes target the assumption that everyone has documents to prove their identity or status; they do not challenge the authority of documents to prove that identity. In contrast, earlier concerns with identification documents included complaints beyond a mere frustration with bureaucracy and the problems associated with the practice of documentation. The passport nuisance encompassed a questioning of whether identity could be documented, and what identity was documented.
The commonplace need to carry and present identification documents has made the practice of translating individual identity into a document seem somewhat mundane. While the mundane can be annoying, it is outside of most people’s concerns whether identity can in fact be successfully documented, or indeed what identity is represented in a document. In our contemporary world, there is general acceptance that identity can be documented, that someone can be known and recognized through a document. However, this book has shown that his “fact,” along with the acceptance of the right of a government to know and recognize people through documents
and files is less than a hundred years old—a “fact” that came into existence through a contested history of more than fifty years in the United States. The questionable notion that a single sheet of paper twelve inches by eighteen inches, even one labeled a passport, could identify someone is in part what the thwarted journey of the clean-shaven Dane with which this book began speaks to. As the Dane’s story reveals, the presentation of a passport created a situation where one could in fact not resemble oneself. It makes apparent that the passport, in the name of the facts collected in a document, actually produced a distinct, if not new, identity. The unease felt by some passport bearers stemmed from the perception that when an official looked at a passport, it was not to establish whether it was an accurate representation of the person presenting it. Rather, the people presenting a passport had to convince the official that they were the document, or more precisely they were the bearers of the identity that the practices of documentation produced. Although in the story of the Dane, this anxiety is represented as a question of physical disconnect, this unease also existed as a concern about the disparity between a personal sense of individuality and identity, and the passport as a collection of “unromantic” facts.
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The contested development of the passport shows how concerns about documenting identity reflected debates and doubts about class, race, gender, and national identity from the 1840s to the 1930s. More importantly, it illustrates how this contested ability to document identity has been collapsed into a truth claim. To give the passport a history as an identification document is to argue that this form of identification and the “official identity” it produced in the name of the modern nation-state is not self-evident in either its history or its function.
Appendix
Important Dates in the History of the Regular United States Passport
1782 | The Continental Congress gives the Department of Foreign Affairs the responsibility of issuing passports in the name of the United States. |
1790 | Congress passes a law that provides punishment for the violation of any “safe-conduct or passport duly obtained and issued under the authority of the United States” (1 Stat. 118, sec. 28, Rev Stat. 4602). |
1811 | First known passport issued by the State Department in Washington to include a description of the bearer. It is presented in paragraph form with blanks after each of the descriptive categories. |
1810s | A small representation of the U.S. coat of arms becomes the first ornamentation to appear on passports issued in the United States. |
1818 | The production of all credentials and certificates, including passports, is made the responsibility of a junior clerk. Fewer than one hundred passports are issued annually. |
1820s | The physical description of the bearer is presented as a list of features on the left side of the passport. |
1833 | The State Department is restructured according to a series of bureaus. The Translating and Miscellaneous Bureau becomes responsible for issuing passports. Approximately one thousand passports are issued annually. |
1835 | In |
1838 | Responsibility for issuing passports is transferred to the Home Bureau of the State Department. |
1845 | The State Department issues the first known circular regarding the passport application process. |
1846 | A second circular clarifies the specific documents a passport applicant has to submit as evidence of personal identity and citizenship. |
1847 | In an attempt to standardize passport policy, the Secretary of State notes that free African Americans are issued a special certificate, not a regular passport. |
1856 | Congress passes the first law that clarifies passport policy, specifying that passports can only be issued to citizens and giving the secretary of state the sole authority to issue passports. It also introduces the first passport fee: $1 for passports issued abroad (11 Stat. 60, sec. 23, Rev. Stat. 4075). |
1861 | From August, the departure and entry of persons at U.S. seaports is subject to a series of regulations that require the presentation of passports. This is a result of the outbreak of the Civil War. In August a new State Department policy requires applicants to submit additional proof of citizenship in the form of an oath of allegiance. (This remains in force until 1973.) |
1862 | A passport fee of $3 is introduced (12 Stat. 432, 472). |
1863 | In March part of the 1856 act is repealed so the State Department can issue passports to noncitizens who are eligible for military service but are leaving the country having paid a bond (12 Stat. 754). |
1864 | Passport fee increased to $5 (13 Stat. 223, 276). |
1865 | From June, people entering and leaving the United States no longer have to present passports. |
1866 | With the end of the Civil War, Congress once again makes it law that passports can only be issued to citizens (14. Stat. 54: Rev. Stat, 4076, 4078). |
1869 | The State Department issues the first General Instructions for passport applicants. |
1870 | Oaths, affidavits or affirmations needed in application are required to be made under penalty of perjury (16 Stat. 368–69). In a State Department reorganization, the Passport Bureau is created. |
1871 | The $5 passport fee is abolished. |
1873 | The validity of the passport is extended from one year to two years. The General Instructions of September 1 make the oath of allegiance a formal requirement. It also includes a new requirement that, in the case of naturalized citizens, the spelling of the applicant’s name has to be the same on the application and the naturalization certificate provided as proof of citizenship. The Passport Bureau is abolished. The Bureau of Archives and Indexes becomes responsible for the issuance of passports. |
1874 | A $5 fee is reintroduced for the passport. |
1886 | The Secretary of State clarifies that it is department policy not to issue passports to Mormons who are seeking to make proselytes. |
1888 | The State Department creates separate application forms for native citizens, naturalized citizens, and persons claiming naturalization through husband or a parent. The passport fee is reduced to $1. |
1892 | The phrase “Good for two years from date” is printed on passports. |
1896 | The “General Instructions for Passport Applicants” is renamed “Rules Governing the Issuance of Passports.” |
1902 | A Passport Bureau is reestablished. Governors of United States insular possessions are authorized to issue passports (32 Stat. 386). |
1903 | At the request of immigration officials, U.S passports issued to citizens of Chinese descent include a disclaimer that possession of a passport does not guarantee entry to the United States. |
1905 | Disclaimer on U.S. passports issued to Chinese is removed. Concern over the stamping of the secretary of state’s signature on the passport results in a facsimile signature being engraved on the plate from which passports are printed. |
1907 | The Passport Bureau is renamed the Bureau of Citizenship. The United States and Japanese governments exchange a series of diplomatic notes into early 1908 that constitute an informal agreement that the United States will not restrict Japanese immigration if the Japanese government agrees not to issue passports to laborers who want to work in the continental United States. The State Department is given the authority to issue a special passport for immigrants who have declared their intention to become citizens. The same act creates a registration certificate that diplomatic and consular officials can give to U.S. citizens living abroad to satisfy the identification demands of foreign authorities (34 Stat. 1228). |
1911 | On June 11 a revised version of the Rules Governing Issuing of Passports limits diplomatic and consular authorities to issuing passports only in emergencies. The United States government abrogates a treaty with Russia over Russian refusal to visa the U.S. passports of Jewish citizens. |
1914 | Following the outbreak of war in Europe in November the State Department released an announcement stating that all citizens going abroad “should” carry passports. On November 13 a revised version of the “Rules Governing Issuing of Passports” requires all passport applications to be executed in front of court officials, thereby removing notary publics from the application process. On December 21 the State Department announced that all U.S. passport applicants have to provide a photograph to be attached to their passport. |
1915 | An executive order of January 12 reduces the period of validity of a passport from two years to six months. A subsequent executive order states that the regulations of European countries have made passports a necessity; though the order does not require aliens or citizens to have passports to enter and leave the United States. Passport applications are changed to include the date and place of departure and the object of visit. “Special identifying marks” is added as a category in the physical description of the bearer. It is revealed that German agents have been using U.S. passports to travel. One notable case is that of George Breeckow, who had entered England using a fake U.S. passport copied from a legitimate passport. |
1916 | The State Department opens a passport agency in New York on January 2. |
1917 | People making applications outside of their place of residence are required to give contact information for a “reputable professional or business man having his office or place of business in the place where the applicant resides.” After the United States declares war on Germany in April, the State Department requires “proof of necessity” in all passport applications, though it is more strictly enforced for Europe. The Departments of State and Labor issue a Joint Order on July 26 to diplomatic, consular, and immigration offices. It requires that all aliens who intend to enter U.S. territory have a visa issued by a U.S. consul. The Bureau of Citizenship is renamed the Division of Passport Control. At the end of the year, despite the precedent of passport requirements during the Civil War, the attorney general rules that the Executive does not have authority to control the departure of aliens, nor the departure and entry of U.S. citizens. |
1918 | The Passport Control Act of May 22 (40 Stat. 559) delegates to the president the power to control the travel of citizens and others to and from the United States in wartime; and the authority to give executive departments the power to enforce it. In an executive order on August 8, President Wilson proclaims rules and regulations governing departure and entry into the United States through passports and visas. The State Department opens a passport agency in San Francisco. |
1919 | A Visa Division is created in the State Department. |
1920 | The fee for passports is increased to $10 ($1 for executing the application and $9 for the passport). The period of validity of passports is increased from six months to two years. The authority to issue passports to immigrants who have declared their intention to become citizens is repealed (41 Stat. 750). The fee for a visa is also increased to $10. In response, most countries increase their visa fees to $10 for U.S. citizens. The League of Nations’ Organization for Communication and Transit holds a conference designed to remove or simplify the international passport requirements introduced by individual nations during the war. |
1921 | In March Congress removes wartime restrictions for citizens entering and leaving country, but retains them for noncitizens (41 Stat. 1217). An immigration act introduces a national quota system, but the act does not give consuls the authority to issue or refuse visas according to the quotas (42 Stat. 5). Passport agencies are opened in Chicago, Seattle, and New Orleans. The secretary of state rules that applicants have to provide a photograph, regardless of religious beliefs. |
1924 | A new immigration act gives consuls the authority to issue and refuse immigration visas according to the quota system (43 Stat. 153). Congress approves funding for a border patrol. |
1925 | The State Department changes its policy to allow a married woman the option of having a passport issued in her maiden name, followed by the phrase “wife of.” The Boston Passport Agency opens. |
1926 | The League of Nations holds its second passport conference. Among other things, it attempts to establish a standard booklet form for the passport and a $2 fee for visas. The State Department issues its first passport in the modern booklet form. The Act of July 3, 1926 (44 Stat. 887) repeals all previous passport laws, while maintaining the language of the 1856 act. It clarifies that the secretary of state has the authority to designate diplomatic and consular officials to issue passports. The Division of Passport Control is renamed the Passport Division. |
1928 | As part of a continuing effort to make the passport a more secure document, the State Department starts to use a machine that perforates a legend across the lower part of the photograph after it is attached to a passport. |