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The article uses the comparative history of federal systems to interpret the citizenship of the European Union as a form of federal citizenship. The general categories of contemporary citizenship law implicitly refer to centralized states. In order to free ourselves from such unitary concepts, we have to consider the forms of tiered, nested citizenship that have characterized empires, (post) colonial arrangements, and earlier federal systems. Research in comparative federalism is particularly useful here. Thus, the article highlights the beginnings of federal citizenship in the early stages of the United States, Switzerland, and Germany, and stresses parallels with the development of European citizenship. The striking similarities between the citizenship of the early federations and EU citizenship should no longer be overlooked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]