Chapter 3 focuses on the durations of time that countdown and recurring deadlines carve out and mark as politically significant. The chapter demonstrates that when the acquisition or exercise of rights is contingent upon a waiting period or a schedule, there is deeper meaning to these durations of time. Time is recognized as having a form of political value that allows it to be used in transactions over power such as those involved in the acquisition and exercise of citizenship rights. The chapter opens with an overview of political thought on the role of time in politics from antiquity through modernity with a focus on modern democratic theory. It then looks closely at the establishment of rules regarding citizenship and naturalization in the United States in order to better describe what purpose jurists and legislators believed the durational time in citizenship waiting periods serves. This analysis shows that, while there is not agreement on a single meaning for time, its value is connected to the fact that processes that are themselves important to one’s political standing – character and relationship development, learning, socialization, etc. – occur in durational time. Durational time acquires political value because it is instrumental in, and representative of, the transpiration of these processes.