This dissertation considers how good eyesight emerged as a boundary line demarcating different kinds of citizenship in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century. As such, it traces the origins of how and why visual citizenship became a necessary condition for full participatory rights and belonging in the United States, a history that contextualizes the contemporary enthusiasm for accurate vision. Using archival, digital, legal, and published sources from the period, I argue that the adoption of this type of citizenship impacted the day-to-day lives of blind men and women, especially their ability to access the wage labor market. This story involves the role played by expert-led organizations for the blind, blind activists, ophthalmologists, legislators, and progressive-era industrialists in managing and aiding the blind vis-a-vis legislation, rehabilitation, and medical intervention. Ultimately, this dissertation demonstrates how blind people were often caught in an unworkable legislative regime between welfare, rehabilitation, and the potential of full employment—a reality that is, in many ways, still true today.