Citizen Soldiers and the Foundational Fusion of Masculinity, Citizenship, and Military Service

Abstract

Sarah Livingston Jay famously toasted revelers in 1783: “May all our citizens be soldiers, and all our soldiers citizens.” This toast conveyed “a foundational fusion” within our republican government tradition―coupling military service, citizenship, and masculinities. The Akron Law School’s conference on the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment offered the chance to fight the eulogization of the Nineteenth Amendment and explore its modern relevance. This paper concludes that the Nineteenth Amendment cannot be understood without connecting it to broader conceptions of citizenship, masculinities, and military service, thus revealing its ongoing relevance to military inclusion and integration. In Professor Abrams’ prior article published in the West Virginia Law Review, the foundational fusion of military service, citizenship, and masculinities was presented and explored. We highlight the framework ofthat argument in the next section and invite readers to explore the full prior article.