[BP2]

Chester Alan Arthur was the son of Irish born preacher William Arthur and Vermont born Malvina Stone Arthur. He was President from 1881-85.

Like a turd in a punchbowl, I've been waiting for the Chester Alan Arthur issue to show up on this thread...

- First of all, Chester's father, William Arthur, naturalized as a US citizen by the time Chester was born.

- Additionally, William Arthur emigrated to the US in 1821. Chester was born in 1829. The Naturalization Act of 1802 only required his father have 5 years under his belt to become a US Citizen.

- Chester A. Arthur, was born to TWO US citizens on US soil.

- As some in the Blogosphere have indicated, there is some modern-day conjecture saying his father may not have naturalized, or didn't do it in time for Chester's birth. Just because one person MAY have "gotten away with it", it does NOT mean we just ignore the rules in our Constitution. We cannot rewrite history. People didn't have all of the available resources and tools in the 19th century that are available today to prevent such a travesty from taking place.

However...

THE FACT THAT HIS OBAMA'S FATHER WAS A BRITISH CITIZEN AT THE TIME OF OBAMA'S BIRTH IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OBAMA AND ARTHUR.

And yes, Donofrio is ready for that if it POPS up there, too...

[classified]

Andrew Jackson was the son of two parents who were not born on U.S. soil. Five other presidents (Thomas Jefferson, James Buchanan, Chester Arthur, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover) each had one parent not born on U.S. soil. Obama would be the sixth president to have one parent not born on U.S. soil.
This “natural born = both parents born on U.S. soil” argument is completely bogus and fabricated and exists nowhere in the U.S. Constitution.

(The post above was posted by Drew68: Is this accurate, and besides your statement about Arthur, and I believe someone else posted that Wilson’s mother was English, that would make at least 2 presidents who got passed the Natural Born clause. Are the others that Drew68 posted also correct examples)?

[Churchillspirit]

Thanks for the colorful post.

Have you been taking lessons from MiaT?

[calenel]

I don’t think you ever responded to my earlier question of a specific reference for the change in the definition of ‘natural born’ from that found in the dictionary: ‘having an attribute or quality from birth’. Do you have one?