The Passport in America: The History of a Document
William W. Stowe · Journal of American History · 2011
The Passport in America offers more than its title suggests. In addition to providing a detailed history of the passport from the late eighteenth century to the mid-1930s, it describes a parallel history, at least as interesting and important, of the idea of civil identity in an evolving bourgeois democracy. Craig Robertson begins by analyzing the essential components of the passport from its roots as a letter signed by a government official, asking “all to whom these presents shall come” to offer the bearer the protection due a citizen of the United States, to its present status as a more formal and imposing document, replete with seals, signatures, and symbols of power (p. 27). His discussion of surnames reminds us of the arbitrary relationship of orthography and identity, both in times of limited literacy and in the “Americanized” names of immigrants, and informs us that the names of married women typically did not appear on passports at all. Their very existence was indicated only by the phrase “and wife” (p. 49). Robertson's discussion of the unique signature as a guarantor of identity includes both common-law practice and the “science” of graphology, and his treatment of physical description draws parallels, not unnoticed by huffy middle-class travelers, with the use of anthropometry to characterize and identify criminal types (pp. 72–76). Even the more objective medium of photography drew protests, as passport photos were routinely compared to post office mug shots (p. 87). Indeed, travelers found the entire application process demeaning, and they resented a system that required them to document their identity rather than have it accepted on the strength of their word and (presumed) good character.