[GregNH]

The Constitution and de Vattel’s Law of Nations has the answer to any questions regarding citizenship abroad and any laws crossing national boundaries: EXCERPT 1. U.S. Constitution, Article II, §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; EXCERPT 2: de Vattel’s Law of Nations circa 1758 Book 1, Chapter XIX, § 212: The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens…The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become true citizens merely by their tacit consent. Finally, the main item in the Constitution that ties both together: EXCERPT 3: U.S. Constitution, Article I, §8: The Congress shall have Power…To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations Yes, Law of Nations is capitalized, meaning our framers were citing a proper name. There was only one Law of Nations in 1787 officially declared. And yes, Congress has the power to create and enforce ANY LAW mentioned in the Law of Nations written by Emmerich de Vattel! It was sitting right under our noses the entire time. I can't take credit for this but feel important to pass along.

[RegulatorCountry]

I can't take credit for this but feel important to pass along.

Welcome to Free Republic. You're preaching to the choir, here.

If you click on a particular screen name, you'll be able to review posting history, under "in forum."

[Lancelot Jones]

The Framers seemed to have a great affinity for capitalization of sometimes seemingly random words...that does not mean however, that they WEREN'T referring to Vattel's book in the passage you quoted.

Here is a textual transcript of Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution:

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

As I said, they appeared to be big fans of seemingly random capitalization

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine; In memoria æterna erit justus, ab auditione mala non timebit.

Beauseant!

[1-Eagle]

The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children...

The US Constitution references de Vattel's Law of Nations, or did you add that in for emphasis?

[Spaulding]

Very Interesting! That may fall into the category of observations such as Donafrio’s that Citizen of the U.S. in the Hamilton draft of June 1787, became ‘natural born citizen’ after the July 25 letter requesting that change from John Jay to G. Washington. Punctuation did mean something, particularly in the constitution itself.

[Technical Editor]

“Yes, Law of Nations is capitalized, meaning our framers were citing a proper name.”

***

And so, according to you and those who agree with you, in Article 1, Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution, all of the capitalized words are proper names in the following paragraph?

“Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.”

***

Look at all those proper nouns!!! Are they books, do you think, just as you think “Law of Nations” is a reference to a book? Or people, maybe??? There are a multitude of people with the name “William” who might be called “Bill.” I will grant you that. But have you done one single bit of research into how English was written in those days??

In view of the above evidence, you and the others are faced with revising your theory of the meaning of “Law of Nations” in the Constitution or denying reality.

In the latter, you can follow the nutcase who made this dumb theory so agreeable to people: Leo Donofrio.