Constructing Territory, Constructing Citizenship: The Daughters of the American Revolution and ‘Americanisation’ in the 1920s

Abstract

This article examines the construction of national security and patriotic citizenship discourses during the early twentieth century as America rose to global geopolitical prominence. Although the US government had a strong stake in Americans’ reception of these discourses, the focused efforts of private groups were the medium through which they were expressly cultivated. The Daughters of the American Revolution offers an important example of a private group that aimed to contribute to and reinforce conservative patriotic discourse, although its complicated range of activities were seen by different commentators as either progressive or reactionary. Through some of its major organisational initiatives of ‘Americanisation’, national security and immigrant education, the DAR produced instructional texts on American territoriality and security and ideal American citizenship.