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To: Mr Rogers
The Constitution was written in 1787.

And Ratified in 1789.

Look at your time-line. Almost everything prior to 1789 says 'subject' and everything after says citizen.

Until the Constitutional ratification process was complete, they were 'subjects'.

The States were accepting petitions from the people to be recognized as citizens so they could be in accordance with Article II Section I, clause 5

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

Of course you can give the appearance that they're 'interchangeable'. Particularly since they aren't in chronological order.

96 posted on 04/29/2012 2:24:46 PM PDT by MamaTexan (I am a ~Person~ as created by the Law of Nature, not a 'person' as created by the laws of Man)
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To: MamaTexan

Massachusetts voted for ratification in Feb 1788 - well before a number of the citations.

And since they swapped back and forth between NBS & NBC, and the final ones cited were for NBS in March 1791, there really isn’t any doubt that one of the ratifying states considered the terms NBC & NBS to be interchangeable.

“Almost everything prior to 1789 says ‘subject’ and everything after says citizen.”

Actually:

In February, 1789, the Massachusetts legislature passed, “AN ACT FOR NATURALIZING JAMES HUYMAN, AND OTHERS, THEREIN NAMED.” in which it was declared that James Huyman and others “shall be deemed, adjudged and taken to be free Citizens of this Commonwealth, and entitled to all the Liberties, Privileges and Immunities of natural born subjects.”

In June, 1789, the Massachusetts legislature passed, “AN ACT FOR NATURALIZING NATHANIEL SKINNER, AND OTHERS, THEREIN NAMED.” in which it was declared that Nathaniel Skinner and others “shall be deemed, adjudged and taken to be free citizens of this Commonwealth, and entitled to all the liberties, privileges and immunities of natural born subjects.”

In March, 1790, the Massachusetts legislature passed “AN ACT FOR NATURALIZING JOHN JARVIS, AND OTHERS, THEREIN NAMED” in which it was declared that John Jarvis and others, “shall be deemed adjudged and taken to be free citizens of this Commonwealth, and entitled to all the liberties, privileges and immunities of natural born subjects.”

Also in March, 1791, the Massachusetts legislature passed“AN ACT FOR NATURALIZING JOHN WHITE & OTHERS” in which it was declared that John White and others, “shall be deemed adjudged and taken, to be free citizens of this Commonwealth, and intitled to all the liberties, privileges, and immunities of natural born subjects.”

Wrong, again........


97 posted on 04/29/2012 2:37:51 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (A conservative can't please a liberal unless he jumps in front of a bus or off of a cliff)
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