# Do Sovereign Citizens consider themselves to be U.S. citizens?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sovereign-citizens-consider-themselves-to-be-u-s-citizens/768267>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 11, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sovereign-citizens-consider-themselves-to-be-u-s-citizens/768267 "2016-10-11T18:49:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sovereign-citizens-consider-themselves-to-be-u-s-citizens/768267/1 "2016-10-11T18:49:54Z")

</div>

Do Sovereign Citizens consider themselves to be U.S. citizens, under the U.S. Constitution (as opposed to ‘common law’ citizens)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sovereign-citizens-consider-themselves-to-be-u-s-citizens/768267/2 "2016-10-11T18:54:35Z")

</div>

> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Do Sovereign Citizens consider themselves to be U.S. citizens, under the U.S. Constitution (as opposed to ‘common law’ citizens)?

They have their own definitions of “U.S.”, “Citizen” and “U.S. Constitution”, so the answer is yes, no and maybe.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sovereign-citizens-consider-themselves-to-be-u-s-citizens/768267/3 "2016-10-11T18:57:27Z")

</div>

I think maybe they consider the United States to be a country of theirs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sovereign-citizens-consider-themselves-to-be-u-s-citizens/768267/4 "2016-10-11T18:57:46Z")

</div>

> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Do Sovereign Citizens consider themselves to be U.S. citizens, under the U.S. Constitution (as opposed to ‘common law’ citizens)?

As I understand it, they specifically reject being US citizens, often formally in pseudo-legal procedures they think count as renouncing US citizenship. To quote the Wikipedia [article on them](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_citizen_movement#Theories):

> [@](#):
>
> Writing in American Scientific Affiliation, Dennis L. Feucht reviews American Militias: Rebellion, Racism & Religion by Richard Abanes, and describes the theory of a sovereign-citizen leader Richard McDonald, which is that there are two classes of citizens in America: the “original citizens of the states” (or “States citizens”) and “U.S. citizens”. McDonald asserts that U.S. citizens or "Fourteenth Amendment citizens
> 
> ```
> have civil rights, legislated to give the freed black slaves after the Civil War rights comparable to the unalienable constitutional rights of white state citizens. The benefits of U.S. citizenship are received by consent in exchange for freedom. State citizens consequently take steps to revoke and rescind their U.S. citizenship and reassert their de jure common-law state citizen status. This involves removing one's self from federal jurisdiction and relinquishing any evidence of consent to U.S. citizenship, such as a Social Security number, driver's license, car registration, use of ZIP codes, marriage license, voter registration, and birth certificate.
> 
> ```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-sovereign-citizens-consider-themselves-to-be-u-s-citizens/768267/5 "2016-10-11T19:35:59Z")

</div>

I don’t think you’ll find any consistency among them. There are probably some who say that they’re not US citizens, but that they’re USA citizens, or that they’re not American citizens, but instead uNITED sTATES citizens, or any other possible permutation you could come up with.