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To: El Gato

You are fundamentally misreading the phrasing of the Constitution.

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution.....

can be read as:
No person except a natural born Citizen, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution.....
and or:
No person except a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution.....

In other words by your logic it is impossible for ANYONE to be a citizen of the US unless they were alive when the Constitution was written.

The proper reading of the clause as written is that there are two cases, two classes of citizens eligible for run for President. This does not include naturalized citizens. Think about it: Previous to the creation of the United States no one was a Citizen of the United States. Everyone was in effect British Citizens. Then one day everyone became citizens. There was no distinction AT THAT TIME between folks born in the US and folks residing in the newly establish US. No place in the Constitution were some rights given to people who had been born say in Maryland prior to the creation of the US and not given to someone who was born in London in say 1740 but who moved to Maryland in 1760.


6,651 posted on 08/04/2009 9:28:01 PM PDT by FreeAlaska32
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To: FreeAlaska32

Every President born before the adoption of the Constitution was eligible because of the grandfather clause of Article 2, Section 1 :

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;

JAMES BUCHANAN

The first President we must examine then was James Buchanan, 14th President of the United States. He was born on April 23, 1791 in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He just missed out on the grandfather clause as the Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Buchanan was also the only President from Pennsylvania and the only President never to marry.

His mother Elizabeth Speer was born in Pennsylvania. His father James Buchanan emigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1783. It was an interesting year for the United States as the Treaty of 1783 was signed between the US and Great Britain. Colonists chose to be United States citizens and by virtue of the Treaty, Great Britain recognized those former subjects as United States citizens.

Before the Constitution, United States citizenship was conferred on citizens by the States. When the Constitution was ratified, each citizen of a state became a citizen of the United States. No formal naturalization was needed.

On June 21, 1788 the Constitution was ratified. The Buchanans were citizens of Pennsylvania and therefore James Sr. was a citizen of the United States. When James Jr. was born in Pennsylvania he was therefore a natural born citizen, born on United States soil to two US citizen parents.


6,667 posted on 08/04/2009 10:03:54 PM PDT by freedommom
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To: FreeAlaska32

Every President born before the adoption of the Constitution was eligible because of the grandfather clause of Article 2, Section 1 :

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;

JAMES BUCHANAN

The first President we must examine then was James Buchanan, 14th President of the United States. He was born on April 23, 1791 in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He just missed out on the grandfather clause as the Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Buchanan was also the only President from Pennsylvania and the only President never to marry.

His mother Elizabeth Speer was born in Pennsylvania. His father James Buchanan emigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1783. It was an interesting year for the United States as the Treaty of 1783 was signed between the US and Great Britain. Colonists chose to be United States citizens and by virtue of the Treaty, Great Britain recognized those former subjects as United States citizens.

Before the Constitution, United States citizenship was conferred on citizens by the States. When the Constitution was ratified, each citizen of a state became a citizen of the United States. No formal naturalization was needed.

On June 21, 1788 the Constitution was ratified. The Buchanans were citizens of Pennsylvania and therefore James Sr. was a citizen of the United States. When James Jr. was born in Pennsylvania he was therefore a natural born citizen, born on United States soil to two US citizen parents.


6,668 posted on 08/04/2009 10:03:56 PM PDT by freedommom
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