So, you are saying that if I was born to two US Citizens while they were working in say, France, that I would not be considered a US Citizen?
The whole Natural Born thing had to do with keeping the British from setting up stooge to be president, and bring us back under the monarchy.
You are spending an awful amount of time and energy splitting some pretty thin hairs.
Not me. I’m not a lawyer. They’re the ones who split hairs.
As to whether you would be considered a US citizen if born in France to US citizens, the answer is yes. But your parents have to register your birth at the US Embassy as France would never recognize you as a citizen. Your parents weren’t French citizens. But would you be considered “natual born” as a citizen. Maybe not. It just so happens I’ve read the analyses of others on this issue.
That said, the important analysis I read concerned the original intent of Article II of the US Constitution as per its requirements for eligibility of a candidate for the Presidency. There are three requirements, the third being “a natural born citizen”. A major part of that analysis had to do with allegeince.
Basically, a person born to US citizens who while performing US government sanctioned duties in a foreign nation is considered a natural born citizen. Later, John McCain served as a Navy Officer and took an oath of allegeince to the US. His allegeince to the US is evident. There will no doubt be a challenge to his eligibility as the above is interpretation by Congress and NOT specifically in the US Constitution. (One constitutional scholar I spoke with stated emphatically that being born on US soil was the only thing that mattered. In that case, if McCain is elected and later found ineligible, Sarah Palin becomes President).
If you are born overseas and your parents aren’t working on assignment for the US government, as I understand it you would not be considered a “natural born” citizen but would have no difficulty securing US citizenship as your parents were both citizens. Even having dual citizenship would not hamper seeking US citizenship UNLESS the other nation does not recognize dual/multiple citizenship. In that case a requirement to repudiate the other nation’s citizenship and take an oath of allegience to the US would get your US citizenship granted (remember - both your parents are US citizens).
None of the above applies to Obama. He was most likely born in Kenya (the newspapers in Kenya openly state that as fact) and later he had Indonesian citizenship and may have traveled to Pakistan in 1981 (age 20) on an Indonesian passport.
Indonesia did not at that time (late 60s to early 70s) recognize dual citizenship. Since he was probably adopted by his stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian citizen, Obama would have had Indonesian citizenship.
No one can hold against him what his custodial parents did vis a vis his citizenship. But did he repudiate all other citizenships and take an oath of allegience to Indonesia in 1981 to get a passport stating he was Indonesian and Muslim? It surely would have made his progress through Pakistan and Saudi Arabia much easier.
Also Kenya was a colonial entity within the British Commonwealth in 1961 when Senator Obama was born. There is a very good chance that Senator Obama’s citizenship record is littered with British, Kenyan, and Indonesian claims on his allegience.
So the question shouldn’t be so much whether he is or is not a US “natural born citizen” but whether Senator Obama is too much a citizen of the world to care about our nation’s sovereignty.
The law pertaining to children born to two US citizens abroad is different than the law pertaining to children born to one US citizen and one alien abroad.The whole Naturan Born thing had to do with keeping the British from setting up stooge to be president, and bring us back under the monarchy.
I'm pretty knowledgeable on American history, and I've never before heard that one. My impression is that the Framers wanted to ensure as best as possible that the President, because he held the highest position in the land, did not have any divided loyalties whatsoever. Some have said that the "Natural Born" provision was put in, at least in part, to keep Alexander Hamilton out of the presidency.
The law pertaining to children born to two US citizens abroad is different than the law pertaining to children born to one US citizen and one alien abroad.
The whole Naturan Born thing had to do with keeping the British from setting up stooge to be president, and bring us back under the monarchy.
I'm pretty knowledgeable on American history, and I've never before heard that one. My impression is that the Framers wanted to ensure as best as possible that the President, because he held the highest position in the land, did not have any divided loyalties whatsoever. Some have said that the "Natural Born" provision was put in, at least in part, to keep Alexander Hamilton out of the presidency.
You are spending an awful amount of time and energy splitting some pretty thin hairs.
I wouldn't use the term "pretty thin hairs" when we are talking about seeing to that the plain language of the Constitution is followed and that we will not be ruled by a possible alien in the White House who will have gotten there by fraud.