Posted on 02/28/2008 2:18:18 PM PST by street_lawyer
The first statute on the citizenship of children born abroad, enacted in 1790, stated: "The children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens: Provided, That the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States." Act of Mar. 26, 1790, ch. 3, 1 Stat. 104. Statutes passed in 1795 and 1802 similarly conditioned the citizenship of the child born abroad on the father's at least one-time residence in the United States. Act of Jan. 29, 1795, § 3, 1 Stat. 415; Act of Apr. 14, 1802, § 4, 2 Stat. 155. This father's residence requirement suggests that Congress intended a child born abroad to gain citizenship only when the father was a citizen. That, indeed, was the law of England at the time. See 2 J. Kent, Commentaries on American Law *50-*51 (hereinafter Kent's Commentaries); 4 Geo. 2, ch. 21 (1731). The statutory language Congress adopted, however, was ambiguous. One could read the words "children of citizens" to mean that the child of a United States citizen mother and a foreign father would qualify for citizenship if the father had at some point resided in the country. See Binney, The Alienigenae of the United States, 2 Am. L. Reg. 193, 203-205 (1854). Or, as Chancellor Kent observed, the words might mean that both parents had to be United States citizens for citizenship to pass. 2 Kent's Commentaries *53. Miller v. Albright, 523 U.S. 420
Chancellor Kent ping!
Was Obama Hussein born in Hawaii after Statehood?
COuldn’t one argue that the canal zone was American territory when he was born, so his citizenship is as valid as anyone born in Samoa or Puerto Rico?
This act may raise more problems than it helps
Apparently the term “natural born” did not apply to a child overseas to parents who were citizens or the act would have been unnecessary.
Further, if the term is ambiguous enough to establish that natural born only means born in the US, can an act of congress amend the constitution or even be used to interpret the original intent?
Sidney?
Another one using a repealed statute as the fundamental basis of his argument. It seems kind of desperate, to put it mildly.
They repealed it because it was bad law. Extra-Constitutional law.
Can you make a case without using repealed law?
Given the Internet, and a lot of bright people out there, including on FreeRepublic, the Times cannot even get away with this garbage for an entire day. No wonder they are becoming a laughing stock, and their stock is lowering the value of the paper it's printed on.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article, "The NY Times' Latest Hatchet Job on McCain"
Yes, he was born 1961. HI became the 50th state in 1959.
You got it. McCain’s father was in the Navy. His mother, like his father, was a natural born US citizen. McCain is no different then any military dependent born to US military men and their wives, who are born in military hospitals in the US or anywhere that duty sends them on an accompanied tour.
This article is pure BS.
It was bought and paid for. Never leased either. We owned it and the gave it back to Panama. Rather, Carter gave it back.
I live in Panama and this whole story is such BS. When he was born, there was a special code of law in effect that stated that ANYONE born in the CZ with at least one American parent was a US citizen. Period. End of discussion.
This really didn’t even apply to McCain since both his parents were American and that makes him an American citizen the same as if he were born on US soil. Period, End of discussion.
My kids will be Americans as well. Citizens and not naturalized either. They will be citizens even though my future wife is Panamanian. All I have to do is report the birth to the US Embassy in Ft. Clayton and do the paperwork. The paperwork is simply a report of a birth of a child on foreign soil to an American citizen.
Geeze, we are killing ourselves with laughter down here with all the nut cases spewing this "not a US citizen" garbage.
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