BLAVATSKY BECAME A NATURALIZED AMERICAN CITIZEN

 

 

Blavatsky became an American citizen on July 8, 1878, after appearing that day before the New York City court of common pleas.

 

She was the first Russian woman to be naturalized as an American citizen, and below I am going to compile the documentation that I find about it.

 

 

 

Jirah Dewey Buck Testimony

 

Dr. Jirah Dewey Buck was an active member of the Theosophical Society in the United States from its inception, and he noted that:

« Before leaving the United States, Blavatsky became an American citizen, and in doing so she lost her pension from the Russian government. »

(HPB: In Memory of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, p.41-45)

 

 

 

 

 

Testimony of Alexander Wilder

 

Alexander Wilder was the editor of the work Isis Unveiled and on this matter he commented:

 

« The work was finally completed, and Isis Unveiled was duly issued. The household began at once to make arrangements for leaving New York. Madam Blavatsky visited the Bureau of Naturalization and there became a citizen of the United States. This astonished me, partly because I knew her to be contemplating to leave the country permanently, and partly because she had freely criticized our ways of doing and our politics. She explained that the American nation had the best government.

 

There were probably matters of law involved that I did not know about. Colonel Olcott was a skillful lawyer, and had been employed by the administration at Washington to ferret out alleged violations of law, he knew what would be necessary abroad for a safeguard. As the party after their arrival in India became objects of suspicion as possible spies of the Russian Government, it is not unlikely that the precaution was wise. »

(The Word, May 1908, p.87)

 

 

 

 

 

Testimony of Henri Olcott

 

Colonel Olcott was the first president of the Theosophical Society and on this matter he wrote:

 

« On the 8th July she took out her naturalization papers, went with me to the Superior Court, and was duly sworn in as a citizen of the United States of America.

 

She describes it thus in my Diary: “H. P. B. was made to swear eternal affection, devotion and defense to and of the U. S. Constitution, forswear every particle of allegiance to the Russian Emperor, and was made a Citizen of the U. S. of America. Received her naturalization papers and went home happy.”

 

Of course, the next day’s American papers were full of accounts of the event, and reporters were sent to interview the new citizen, who made them all laugh with her naive opinions upon politics and politicians. »

(Old Diary Leaves I, p.474)

 

 

 

 

 

William Judge Testimony

 

William Judge was Blavatsky's main collaborator and on this matter he stated the following:

 

« H. P. B. was compelled for various reasons to become an American citizen. This troubled her considerably, as, like all Russians, she was passionately devoted to her country.

 

She wrote to [her aunt] Madame Fadeef:

 

"My dearest, I write to you because otherwise I would burst with a strange feeling which is positively suffocating me. It is the 8th of July today, an ominous day for me, but God only knows whether the omen is good or bad. Today it is exactly five years and one day since I came to America, and this moment I have just returned from the Supreme Court where I gave my oath of allegiance to the American Republic and Constitution.

 

Now for a whole hour I have been a citizen with equal rights to the President himself. So far so good: the workings of my original destiny have forced me into this naturalization, but to my utter astonishment and disgust I was compelled to repeat publicly after the judge, like a mere parrot, the following tirade: that I 'would renounce for ever and even to my death every kind of submission and obedience to the emperor of Russia; that I would renounce all obedience to the powers established by him and the government of Russia, and that I would accept the duty to defend, love, and serve the Constitution of the United States alone. So help me God in whom I believe!'

 

I was awfully scared when pronouncing this blackguardly recantation of Russia and the emperor. And so I am not only an apostate to our beloved Russian Church, but a political renegade. A nice scrape to get into, but how am I to manage to no longer love Russia or respect the emperor? It is easier to say a thing than to act accordingly." »

(The Path, February 1895)

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

We see that Blavatsky naturalized American, but not because she had become a staunch patriot of this country, but because of the advantages that this nationality conferred on her. And on the internet I read that she was the first Russian to acquire US citizenship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OBSERVATION

 

The Theosophy.wiki website states that on September 22, 1874, Blavatsky signed a US government application form in which she declared her intention to naturalize.

 

But I am not sure that it was that year because the testimonies that I have given you above suggest that Blavatsky made her decision to naturalize at the end of her stay in the United States and not at the beginning when she arrived in that country (on July 7, 1873).

 

 

 

 

 

 

REMARK

 

In chapter 29 of his book “Theosophism”, René Guénon wrote:

 

« Madame Blavatsky voluntarily repudiated her status as Russian and liked to call herself American (we have already seen that, indeed, she was naturalized in 1878). »

(p.282)

 

But as you can see for yourselves, this asseveration is false and shows how poorly Guénon investigated Blavatsky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DOCUMENTS

 

According to Boris de Zirkoff, in 1978, Blavatsky's naturalization papers were in the hands of Geoffrey Watkins, who was the son of John Watkins (who was a personal friend of Blavatsky's).

 

 

citizenship certificate

 

 

 

 

grant of citizenship