[rxsid]

What follows, is a bit of information with regards to the Constitutional term "Natural Born Citizen" (specifically) and NOT about the entire makeup, functions, origins and influences that made/make up our form of government, a Constitutional Republic.

Who, or "what" constituted a natural born citizen was well known to the framers. Jay would not have made such a suggestion to the others (Washington & the rest of those in attendance at the Constitutional Convention) unless there was a clear understanding of what that term meant. The definition comes from a source that not only were the framers familiar with, but the founders (many who were both) as well. And yes, even though most could not speak French, most read French (except, notably, Washington who would defer to Jefferson when such interpretation was needed).

 

NBC in the Constitutional drafts:

June 18th, 1787 - Alexander Hamilton suggests that the requirement be added, as: "No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a Citizen of one of the States, or hereafter be born a Citizen of the United States." Works of Alexander Hamilton (page 407).

July 25, 1787 (~5 weeks later) - John Jay writes a letter to General Washington (president of the Constitutional Convention): "Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen." [the word born is underlined in Jay's letter which signifies the importance of allegiance from birth.] http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hlaw:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28fr00379%29%29:

September 2nd, 1787 George Washington pens a letter to John Jay. The last line reads: "I thank you for the hints contained in your letter"
http://www.consource.org/index.asp?bid=582&fid=600&documentid=71483

September 4th, 1787 (~6 weeks after Jay's letter and just 2 days after Washington wrote back to Jay) - The "Natural Born Citizen" requirement is now found in their drafts. Madison's notes of the Convention
The proposal passed unanimously without debate.

 

Original French version of Vattel's Law of Nations:

Emer de Vattel, Le droit des gens, ou Principes de la loi naturelle, vol. 1 (of 2) [1758]

From Chapter XIX, 212 (page 248 of 592):
Title in French: "Des citoyens et naturels"
To English: "Citizens and natural"

French text (about citizens): "Les citoyens sont les membres de la societe civile : lies a cette societe par certains devoirs et soumis a son autorite, ils participent avec egalite a ses avantages."
-------------------
To English: "The citizens are the members of the civil society: linked to this society by certain duties and subject to its authority, they participate with equality has its advantages."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
French text (about "natural" born citizens): "Les naturels, ou indigenes, sont ceux qui sont nes dans le pays, de parens citoyens"
-------------------
To English, gives this: "the natural, or indigenous, are those born in the country, parents who are citizens"

Prior to the Constitution

"This 1758 work by Swiss legal philosopher Emmerich de Vattel is of special importance to scholars of constitutional history and law, for it was read by many of the Founders of the United States of America, and informed their understanding of the principles of law which became established in the Constitution of 1787. Chitty's notes and the appended commentaries by Edward D. Ingraham, used in lectures at William and Mary College, provide a valuable perspective on Vattel's exposition from the viewpoint of American jurists who had adapted those principles to the American legal experience."

Vattel's Law of Nations, built upon "natural law - which has it's roots in ancient Greece, was influenced by Leibniz.
Even Blackstone affirmed the basis of natural law:
"This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original” (1979, 41). In this passage, Blackstone articulates the two claims that constitute the theoretical core of conceptual naturalism: 1) there can be no legally valid standards that conflict with the natural law; and 2) all valid laws derive what force and authority they have from the natural law."

A detailed, historical, etymology of the term "Natural Born Citizen" can be found here: http://www.greschak.com/essays/natborn/index.htm

U S v. ARJONA, 120 U.S. 479 (1887)

Thomas Jefferson (for one example) had the 1758 version as well as a 1775 version in his own library:
Thomas Jefferson's Library: A Catalog with the Entries in His Own Order (under a section he titled "Ethics. Law of Nature and Nations."

In AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Thomas Jefferson, he states: "On the 1st of June 1779. I was appointed Governor of the Commonwealth and retired from the legislature. Being elected also one of the Visitors of Wm. & Mary college, a self-electing body, I effected, during my residence in Williamsburg that year, a change in the organization of that institution by abolishing the Grammar school, and the two professorships of Divinity & Oriental languages, and substituting a professorship of Law & Police, one of Anatomy Medicine and Chemistry, and one of Modern languages; and the charter confining us to six professorships, we added the law of Nature & Nations..." This was 8 years prior the the writing of the Constitution! [See the "Law of Nature & Nations" section of his personal library to get an idea of what he included in this curriculum in America's 1st law school].

Note: Vattel, is one of only 10 "footnotes" in Jefferson's Biography, from Yale.

Prior to Jay's famous letter to those in attendance at the Constitutional Convention, we see (one of many exchanges between the founders) a letter from Madison ("father" of the Constitution) to Jay:

"James Madison, as a member of the Continental Congress in 1780, drafted the instructions sent to John Jay, for negotiating a treaty with Spain, which quotes at length from The Law of Nations. Jay complained that this letter, which was probably read by the Spanish government, was not in code, and "Vattel's Law of Nations, which I found quoted in a letter from Congress, is prohibited here.[29]"
From: Life, Liberty, and The Pursuit of Happiness. How the Natural Law concept of G.W. Leibniz Inspired America's Founding Fathers.

After the Constitution

Founder and Historian David Ramsay Defines a Natural Born Citizen in 1789.
David Ramsay (April 2, 1749 to May 8, 1815) was an American physician, patriot, and historian from South Carolina and a delegate from that state to the Continental Congress in 1782-1783 and 1785-1786. He was the Acting President of the United States in Congress Assembled. He was one of the American Revolution’s first major historians. A contemporary of Washington, Ramsay writes with the knowledge and insights one acquires only by being personally involved in the events of the Founding period.

Ramsay REAFFIRMS the definition a Natural Born Citizen (born in country, to citizen parents (plural)) in 1789 A Dissertation on the Manners of Acquiring the Character and Privileges of a Citizen (1789)

The Naturalization Act of 1790, which states (in relevant part) "that the children of citizens [plural] of the United States that might be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, should be considered as natural-born citizens"

Of course, the Act of 1790 was repealed by the Act of 1795 (which did NOT attempt to define or extend the definition for NBC). What the 1st Congress had tried to do in 1790 was to EXTEND the known definition (of born in country to citizen parentS) to those born outside of sovereign territory, to citizen parentS. Of course, they can't do that. Congress (by itself) doesn't have the Constitutional authority to define (or EXTEND) the Constitutional term "Natural Born Citizen." Only a SCOTUS decision on the intent of the framers, or an amendment to the Constitution can do that.

The same definition was referenced in the dicta of many early SCOTUS cases as well...some examples:

"THE VENUS, 12 U.S. (8 Cranch) 253, 289 (1814) (Marshall, C.J. concurring) (cites Vattel’s definition of Natural Born Citizen)
SHANKS V. DUPONT, 28 U.S. 242, 245 (1830) (same definition without citing Vattel)
MINOR V. HAPPERSETT, 88 U.S.162,167-168 ( 1875) (same definition without citing Vattel)
EX PARTE REYNOLDS, 1879, 5 Dill., 394, 402 (same definition and cites Vattel)
UNITED STATES V WARD, 42 F.320 (C.C.S.D. Cal. 1890) (same definition and cites Vattel.)"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17519578/Kerchner-v-Obama-Congress-DOC-34-Plaintiffs-Brief-Opposing-Defendants-Motion-to-Dismiss

The New Englander, Volume 3 (1845) states: "The expression ‘citizen of the United States occurs in the clauses prescribing qualifications for Representatives, for Senators, and for President. In the latter, the term ‘natural born citizen’ is used and excludes all persons owing allegiance by birth to foreign states."
Note: the "New Englander" was NOT a student law review. The first student law review appeared 30 years later, in 1875/76 at the Albany Law School..

John Bingham, "father" of the 14th Amendment, the abolitionist congressman from Ohio who prosecuted Lincoln's assassins, REAFFIRMED the definition known to the framers by saying this:

commenting on Section 1992 said it means “every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen.” (Cong. Globe, 39th, 1st Sess., 1291 (1866))"

SCOTUS, in an 1887 case stated:
"Vattel in his Law of Nations, which was first printed at Neuchatel in 1758, and was translated into English and published in England in 1760" U S v. ARJONA, 120 U.S. 479 (1887)

It's interesting to note that (non binding) Senate Resolution 511, which attempted to proclaim that Sen. John McCain was a "Natural Born Citizen" because he was born to citizen parentS, even they referenced the (repealed) Naturalization Act of 1790: "Whereas such limitations would be inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the `natural born Citizen' clause of the Constitution of the United States, as evidenced by the First Congress's own statute defining the term `natural born Citizen'".
Obama, himself, was a signatory of that resolution knowing full well (no doubt) the requirement has always been about 2 citizen parents.

The point is, with the exception of the repealed Act of 1790 which tried to EXTEND the definition, the meaning of the term "Natural Born Citizen" has ALWAYS been about being born within the sovereign territory or jurisdiction of the U.S. to 2 citizen parents (& therefore parents who do NOT owe allegiance to another, foreign, country).

[rxsid]

"Vattel considers the general doctrine to be, that children generally acquire the national character of their parents (Vattel, B. 1, ch. 19. sec. 212, 219);"

Inglis v. Trustees of Sailor's Snug Harbour in City of New York, 28 US 99 - Supreme Court 1830

[rxsid]

"It has also been observed that an act of Congress ought never to be construed to violate the law of nations if any other possible construction remains, and consequently can never be construed to violate neutral rights, or to affect neutral commerce, further than is warranted by the law of nations as understood in this country."

Murray v. Schooner Charming Betsy, 6 US 64 - Supreme Court 1804 (Chief Justice Marshall)

[El Gato]

another FReeper, bushpilot1 has discovered, in the Journals of the Continental Congress --FRIDAY, JULY 27, 1781

a trade agreement between the US and France, with the agreement shown in both English and French. Within it, "naturels" is translated as "natural born". In this case refering to subjects/sujets.

In French.

ARTICLE III Les consuls et vice consuls respectifs ne pourront être pris que parmi les sujets naturels de la puissance qui les nommera.

And in English

The respective Consuls and Vice Consuls shall only be taken from among the natural born subjects of the power nominating them.

And there you have it. Naturels was understood as "Natural Born". Thus the later translation better reflects what the founders, many of whom were quite literate in French, would have understood.

Les citoyens sont les membres de la societe civile : lies a cette societe par certains devoirs et soumis a son autorite, ils participent avec egalite a ses avantages. Les naturels, ou indigenes, sont ceux qui sont nes dans le pays, de parens citoyens. becomes in English, as understood by the founding generation(s)(Franklin was much older than most, but was one of the francophones):

The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.

We also know that the founders had access to several copies of "Law of Nations" in French. We do not know if the delegates had a copy in English. We do know that Jay was a French speaker as well (in fact his paternal grandfather was from France). I can't find the referance now, but I recall that he had more than one edition of "Law of Nations", in French.

[Mr Rogers]

Once again:

“June 18th, 1787 - Alexander Hamilton suggests that the requirement be added, as: “No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a Citizen of one of the States, or hereafter be born a Citizen of the United States.” Works of Alexander Hamilton (page 407).”

Yep, you have to be born a citizen of the US. That was the intent. And Obama was born a citizen of the US. Hamilton does NOT add “born of two citizen parents”.

“July 25, 1787 (~5 weeks later) - John Jay writes a letter to General Washington (president of the Constitutional Convention): “Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen...”

Yep, no foreigners, but someone born a US citizen.

Vattel, as you well know, does NOT make reference to natural born citizen. Vattel used two words: “Naturels” and “Indigenes”. Neither was translated in English versions written prior to the Constitution. In a translation written AFTER the Constitution, the first is translated “natives”.

For the second:

Indigenous is defined as

“1. originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; native (often fol. by to): the plants indigenous to Canada; the indigenous peoples of southern Africa.
2. innate; inherent; natural (usually fol. by to): feelings indigenous to human beings.”

Its derivation is...

“1640–50; < L indigen(a) native, original inhabitant (indi-, by-form of in- in-2 (cf. indagate) + -gena, deriv. from base of gignere to bring into being; cf. genital, genitor) + -ous”

Also: “—Synonyms 1. autochthonous, aboriginal, natural.”

So I think a translation of “the native, or indigenous person” is vastly superior to “the native, or natural born citizen”. The word Vattel used and that the Founders were familiar with is the root of indigenous. The idea that the Founder read the French word for indigenous (literally) and thought “natural born citizen” is laughable.

“”THE VENUS, 12 U.S. (8 Cranch) 253, 289 (1814) (Marshall, C.J. concurring) (cites Vattel’s definition of Natural Born Citizen)”

Actually, the phrase natural born citizen is not found in the decision. At least, my computer couldn’t find it...

“SHANKS V. DUPONT, 28 U.S. 242, 245 (1830) (same definition without citing Vattel)”

Actually, the phrase NBC is found twice - once in describing the lady, and once in this passage:

“There is indeed one prominent difficulty hanging over this argument which it is impossible to remove. If it proves any thing, it proves too much, since the inference, if resulting at all, must extend to put off one’s allegiance, as well to adopted citizens as to natural born citizens, and to all times and all circumstances.”

Notice it envisions two sources of citizenship - natural born and adopted. It does NOT envision 3 classes, with the special class of “born of two citizen parents”.

“MINOR V. HAPPERSETT, 88 U.S.162,167-168 ( 1875) (same definition without citing Vattel)”

Actually, it says:

“Additions might always be made to the citizenship of the United States in two ways: first, by birth, and second, by naturalization. This is apparent from the Constitution itself, for it provides [Footnote 6] that

“No person except a natural-born citizen or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution shall be eligible to the office of President, and that Congress shall have power “to establish a uniform rule of naturalization.” Thus, new citizens may be born or they may be created by naturalization.

The Constitution does not in words say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case, it is not necessary to solve these doubts.”

To repeat: “Thus, new citizens may be born or they may be created by naturalization.” - thus supporting TWO types of citizenship, one by birth and one by adoption.

Specifically addressing NBC, it says, “...it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case, it is not necessary to solve these doubts...”

So it leaves open the debate it acknowledges existed at the time: does a NBC require two citizen parents, or not. It makes NO attempt to resolve that question.

“The point is, with the exception of the repealed Act of 1790 which tried to EXTEND the definition, the meaning of the term “Natural Born Citizen” has ALWAYS been about being born within the sovereign territory or jurisdiction of the U.S. to 2 citizen parents (& therefore parents who do NOT owe allegiance to another, foreign, country).”

As you well know, the argument making up the first 4-5 pages of United States v. Wong Kim Ark (http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0169_0649_ZO.html) discusses it at length, and makes it clear they consider WKA a natural born subject.

The dissent included acknowledgment of that, saying, “Considering the circumstances surrounding the framing of the Constitution, I submit that it is unreasonable to conclude that “natural-born citizen” applied to everybody born within the geographical tract known as the United States, irrespective of circumstances, and that the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country, whether of royal parentage or not, or whether of the Mongolian, Malay or other race, were eligible to the Presidency, while children of our citizens, born abroad, were not.”

Yes, that is “dicta”, but it has been followed by subsequent decisions for over 100 years. It forms the basis for the Indiana courts deciding that Obama IS a natural born citizen:

“Based upon the language of Article II, Section 1, Clause 4 and the guidance provided by Wong Kim Ark, we conclude that persons born within the borders of the United States are “natural born Citizens” for Article II, Section 1 purposes, regardless of the citizenship of their parents. Just as a person “born within the British dominions [was] a natural-born British subject” at the time of the framing of the U.S. Constitution, so too were those “born in the allegiance of the United States [] natural-born citizens.”

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/11120903.ebb.pdf

Just a few facts that your repeated posting doesn’t account for...

[bushpilot1]

ARTICLE III

Les consuls et vice consuls respectifs ne pourront être pris que parmi les sujets naturels de la puissance qui les nommera.

3
The respective Consuls and Vice Consuls shall only be taken from among the natural born subjects of the power nominating them.

A Philadelphie le 24 Juillet, 1781.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/hlawquery.html type naturels

[Uncle Chip]

This is an excellent source of information —

[rxsid]

"Treatise on Citizenship, by Birth and by Naturalization, with References to the Law of Nations, Roman Civil Law, Law of the United States of america, and the Law of France; Including Provisions in the Federal Constitution, and in the Several State Constitutions, in Respect of Citizenship; Together with Decisions Thereon of the Federal and State Courts"
by Alexander Porter Morse (1881)

"The true bond which connects the child with the body politic is not the matter of an inanimate piece of land but the moral relations of his parentage 4"
[4 Vattel sect 216 220 ] Pg. 12

"7 Under view of the law of nations natives or natural born citizens are those born in the country of parents who are citizens." (Vattel, book 1, cited as source. Most probably the 1797 version).
[5 Vattel Book I p 101] Pg. 12

"A citizen in the largest sense is any native or naturalized person who is entitled to full protection in the exercise and enjoyment of the so called private rights 3 The natural born or native is one who is born in the country of citizen parents 4"
[4 Vattel Droit des Gens 1 io xix sect 212 Ed Paris 1863] Pg. XI

[rxsid]

The phrase "natural born citizen" appears in a 1774 English translation of the book Institutio Oratoria (in Latin), by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (published in the first century A.D.); this was done in Chapter I of Book VIII.by Patsall.

Natural law <===> Natural Born Citizen <===> Law of Nations (Vattel).

Of course, a number of framers also read Latin.

[rxsid]

The term "natural born citizen" found in a number of Naturalization acts of Massachusetts between the times of the United States Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) and the ratification of the United States Constitution by all thirteen original states (May 29, 1790).

February 28, 1785
Nicholas Rousselet & George Smith

"natural born citizens"

Massachusetts. Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1784-85. Boston: Reprinted by Wright and Potter, 1890 or later, from Adams & Nourse, 1784. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=_X8QAAAAYAAJ 124-5.

February 7, 1786
Michael Walsh

"natural born citizen"

Massachusetts. Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1784-85. Boston: Reprinted by Wright and Potter, 1890 or later, from Adams & Nourse, 1784. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=_X8QAAAAYAAJ 507-8.

July 7, 1786
Jonathan Curson & William Oliver

"natural born citizens"

Massachusetts. Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1786-87. Boston: Reprinted by Wright and Potter, 1893, from Adams & Nourse, 1786. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=n4AQAAAAYAAJ. 53-4

October 29, 1787
Bartholomy de Gregoire & others

"natural born Citizens"

Massachusetts. Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1786-87. Boston: Reprinted by Wright and Potter, 1893, from Adams & Nourse, 1786. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=n4AQAAAAYAAJ. 571-2

November 21, 1788
Elisha Bourn & others

"natural born Citizens"

Massachusetts. Acts and Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1788-89. Boston: Reprinted by Wright and Potter, 1894, from Adams & Nourse, 1788. Retrieved from http://books.google.com/books?id=M4EQAAAAYAAJ 38-9.

[rxsid]

"George Washington Consulted the Legal Treatise "Law of Nations" as America's New President on his first day in office.

Clearly, the framers thought highly of Vattel's "Law of Nations"

"There was a news account recently that President George Washington borrowed the legal reference book "Law of Nations or Principles of Natural Law" and never returned it to the library in New York and now owes a huge past due fine on that book. This new current events story ties into the importance of that book to George Washington and the other founders. Attached is an image and an the account what the new President was doing with the book in 1789 in New York. The new President was found consulting that book by visitors to his office in New York in 1789.

New York was then the capital of the USA. See attached highlighted section of the history book, This Was New York, The Nation's Capital in 1789, by Monaghan & Lowenthal, published by Books for Libraries Press of Freeport NY. I have a copy of this rare book. But it can also be viewed online at Google's book site. "

http://puzo1.blogspot.com/2010/04/george-washington-consulted-legal.html

[rxsid]

An example of Jefferson writting in French, citing Vattel (multiple times in the book).

Thomas Jefferson (Secretary of State) to Mr. Genet, Plenipotentiary of France - Philadelphia June 17 1793

You think Sir, that this opinion is also contrary to the law of nature, and usage of nations. We are of opinion it is dictated by that law and usage; and this had been very maturely enquired into before it was adopted as a principle of conduct. But we will not assume the exclusive right of saying what that law and usage is. Let us appeal to enlightened and disinterested judges. None is more so than Vattel. He says

1. 3, f. 104 Tant qu un pcuple neutre veut jouir surement de cet etat il doit mon trer en toutes chofcs une exacte impartialite entre ceux qui se font la guerre Car s il savorlse Pun au prejudice de Pautre il ne pourra a pas se plaindre quand celui ci le traitera comme adherent et associe de son ennemi Sa neutralise seroit une neutralise frauduleuse dont personne ne veut etre la dupe Voyons done en quoi consiste cette impartialite qu un pcuple neutre doit garder
...

Pg. 29.

A message of the President of the United States to Congress relative to France and Great-Britain : delivered December 5, 1793, with the papers therein referred, to which are added the French originals.
Thomas Jefferson - 1793. Philadelphia : Published by order of the House of Representatives, Printed by Childs and Swaine

[bushpilot1]

http://research.history.org/Files/Archaeo/ResPubs/Ethnicity%20and%20Identity%20Formation.pdf

“The society that developed in the Chesapeake was so unique that British officials often made explicit distinctions between English-born(settlers) and the natives (native-born whites)...”

The “natives” born to parents in the colonies..

[rxsid]

Early courses and professors at William and Mary College
By Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Phi Beta Kappa. Virginia Alpha, William and Mary College - 1904

"The Faculty as now constituted was remarkably able. There was first the President James Madison, who had charge of the department of Natural and Moral Philosophy, International Law and Political Economy. He was a graduate of William and Mary, and afterwards studied in England where he attended the lectures of the celebrated Cavallo on Natural Science. Though subsequently Bishop of the Episcopal church, his proper place was in the class room, where he spent as much as four to six hours a day. Under his tutelage Adam Smith's great work Inquiry into the Nature and Sources of the Wealth of Nations and Vattel's Law of Nations were taught at William and Mary earlier than at any other College in the United States." [Sometime around 1779]
Pg. 6.

[rxsid]

Vattel was still influencial, and being tought, in the 1830's:

"Influence of President Dew

One of the most influential professors at the College of William and Mary during the present century was Thomas Roderick Dew (1802 - 1846). He was a graduate of the institution and, in 1827, at the age of twenty-three, became professor of political economy, history, and metaphysics. A copy of the laws and regulations of the College of William and Mary, passed and published in 1830, shows that Professor Dew then held the "professorship of political law," with a salary of $1,000. His duties were defined as follows: he was to deliver lectures on natural AND national law, political economy, metaphysics, government, and history. The textbook on natural AND national law was to be Vattel, with reference to Rutherforth's Institutes; in political economy, Smith's Wealth of Nations; in metaphysics, Browne abridged; Locke on Government, and Rousseau's Social Contract. Lectures were required at least three times a week upon each subject." Pg. 54.

The College of William And Mary: A Contribution to the History of Higher Education
by Herbert B. Adams, Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

[rxsid]

Educating republicans: the college in the era of the American Revolution, 1750-1800
Author David W. Robson
Publisher Greenwood Publishing Group, 1985
ISBN 0313246068, 9780313246067

On the text selection of President Madison (the "Father" of the Constitution), and the two professors of law, Wythe and Tucker at William and Mary:
Before 1790, the college leaders shared the nationalist outlook of their colleagues elsewhere. In his courses on natural law and politics Madison used Vattel, Montesquieu, and Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations. The first two were standard fare" Pg. 170

Table 3-2:*
Curricular Offerings by Author at Pre-Revolutionary Colleges
---------------------------------------------------------
Pufendorf is listed under the College of N.J. and King's College
Grotius is listed under the College of N.J., Kings and the College of Philadelphia
Locke's Essay is listed under Harvard, Yale and College of N.J.
Locke's Two Treatises is listed under the College of Philadelphia
Montesquieu is listed under the College of N.J.
(& others) Pg. 81-82.
* Vattel was taught at Kings College (now Columbia) in 1773! (hat tip to bushpilot1)

Table 5-1:
Curricular Offerings by Author at Original Colleges Post-1783
---------------------------------------------------------
Pufendorf same colleges as before
Grotius same as before
Locke's Essay same as before, with addition to William and Mary
Locke's Two Treatises same as before
Montesquieu same as before, with addition to Yale and William & Mary
Vattel is added to Yale and William and Mary.
(& others) Pg. 167-168.

William and Mary home of America's first school of law.
Yale was the largest university (by numbers) in 1783. (Pg. 125)

Pufendorf's work, were commentaries and revisions of the natural law theories of Thomas Hobbes and Hugo Grotius. "On The Duty of Man and Citizen According to the Natural Law (1673)"

Grotius laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law. "The Law of War and Peace (1625)"

Locke incorporated natural law into many of his theories and philosophy. "Two Treatises on Government (1680-1690)" and his Essay "Concerning Human Understanding (1690)"

Montesquieu relied upon the natural law as a standard. Despite the alleged relativism of his thought, he often condemned laws, practices, and institutions as violations of human nature and the natural law. He was also one who articulated the theory of separation of powers. "The Spirit of Laws (1751)"

Vattel. "The Law of Nations or the Principles of Natural Law (1758)"

 

What we see here is that in the college's curricula of the Pre-Revolutionary era, jurists and philosophers of natural law who's work primarily appears in the 1600's are taught.

Then, in the Post-1783 era, Vattel's work from 1758 is added to William and Mary (influential college of Madison, father of the Constitution, Jefferson and Marshall - who would later quote Vattel's NBC definition (born in country to citizen parentS) in the SCOTUS case: THE VENUS, 12 U.S. (8 Cranch) 253, 289 (1814) ) and Yale (the largest by student population).

Vattel become increasingly more popular in the American colonies after 1775, when Dumas sent (English language) copies of Law of Nations to Benjamin Franklin who stated "It came to us in good season, when the circumstances of a rising State make it necessary frequently to consult the Law of Nations."

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Two centuries' growth of American law, 1701-1901, Volume 1
Author Yale Law School
Publisher Scribner, 1901

"When our government took its place among nations, its statesmen were guided by the treatises of Grotius, Barbeyrac, Puffendorf, Bynkershoek, above all, Vattel. 1 Vattel was used 1792-1795 by President Stiles at Yale for instruction." Pg. 516.

"In WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, President Lyon G Tyler states that the Law of Nations was taught first by the Professor of Moral Philosophy in 1779, and continuously since the text book being Vattel until 1861. This seems to have been at Jefferson's suggestion." Pg. 518

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A transaction of free men: the birth and course of the Declaration of Independence
Author David Freeman Hawke
Publisher Da Capo Press, 1989
ISBN 0306803526, 9780306803529

Jefferson left William and Mary in 1762, but remained a law student of George Wythe. Jefferson read "Ethics, religion, natural and sectarian, and natural law for the next fours years (1762-1766). Pg. 36/37.

His (Jefferson) legal notebook - Commonplace Book he called it - is crammed with extracts from his reading. Lord Kames's Historical Law Tracts, a book which among other things applied natural law to the legal profession, made a deep impression, to judge by the number of entries. Pg. 43.

 

The United States of America, 1765-1865 (1930)
Author Edward Channing
ISBN 0543977420, 9780543977427

describing the Court of Inquiry [regarding Benedict Arnold], Lord Mahon stigmatized Nathaneal Green [who presided over the court] as ignorant to Vattel and Puffendorf, and as having "no light of study." As a matter of fact, there was no man in America who probably knew more about the usages of war than Nathaneal Greene. Vattel was a book much read by the American leaders of that time."

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Vattel's Law of Nations (London, 1760 version) found in 1811 Salem Library catalog. Pages 66, 72 and 89.

Catalogue of the library of the Athenaeum, in Salem, Massachusetts: with the by-laws and regulations
Author: Salem Athenaeum
Publisher: Printed at the office of the Gazette, 1811.

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John Jay's home library contained Vattel.

The homes of America
Editor: Martha Joanna Lamb
Publisher: D. Appleton and company, 1879
Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison

"One division [Of the library in the "Bedford House" of the 1st Chief Justice John Jay] contains the favorite authors of the Chief Justice, weighty folios of Grotius, Puffendorf, Vattel and other masters of the science of international law, standard theological and miscellaneous works and the classic authors of antiquity. Pg. 108.

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Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought from Paine to Pragmatism
Author: William H. Goetzmann
Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2009
ISBN: 0465004954, 9780465004959

"The Baron von Pufendorf's work, along with that of Locke, convinced Americans of the validity of natural law as early as 1717, when John Wise cited him as a primary authority." Pg. 31

"American legal thought, as it had done for more than one hundred years [from 1789], drew upon world legal thought--from Justinian, Samuel Pufendorf, Hugo Grotius, and Emmerich Vattel--as well as the English tradition from Sir Edward Coke and Edward Vaughn to Blackstone. As the Pennsylvania Law Journal of 1846 put it, Americans had none of "that prejudice against foreign systems of law, merely because they are foreign, which is all-powerful in England." Pg. 87