Quite a big deal was made of it at the time
Do you people just make this crap up as you go along?
The "big deal" surrounding Arthur was that he himself was born in Canada and thus ineligible. A Big Deal was made about this because as Garfield's health deteriorated, many Republicans did not want to see Vice President Arthur, a Stalwart and Conkling stooge become President. Fearing a return to the civil service patronage system that Garfield railed against, they floated the notion that Arthur was a stealth Canadian in a futile effort to prevent his Presidency.
His father had nothing to do with it.
(And Arthur went on to sign into law the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act.)
I don’t make things up. Chester Arthur was born in Vermont, not Canada. His father emigrated to the US from Canada but was born in Ireland.
From Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_A._Arthur
Early life
[edit] Birth and family
Chester Alan Arthur was born October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont.[a] His father, William Arthur, was born just outside the village of Cullybackey, County Antrim, Ireland, and emigrated to Dunham, Lower Canada (in present-day Quebec) in 1818 or 1819 after graduating from Belfast College.[5] Arthur’s mother, Malvina Stone, was born in Vermont, the daughter of George Washington Stone and Judith Stevens. Malvina’s family was primarily of English descent, and her grandfather, Uriah Stone, fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.[5] Arthur’s mother met his father while he was teaching at a school in Dunham, just over the border from her native Vermont, and the two soon married[5] in Dunham, Missisquoi, Quebec, Canada on April 12, 1821. After their first child, Regina, was born in Dunham, the Arthurs moved around Vermont in quick succession to Burlington, Jericho, and Waterville, as William moved to jobs with different schools.[5] In Waterville, William Arthur departed from his Presbyterian upbringing and joined the Free Will Baptists, spending the rest of his life as a minister in that sect.[5] He also became an outspoken abolitionist, which at times made him unpopular with parts of his congregations and contributed to the family’s frequent moves.[6] In 1828, the family moved again, to Fairfield, where Chester Alan Arthur was born the following year.[4] He was named “Chester” after Chester Abell, the physician and family friend who assisted in his birth, and “Alan” after his paternal grandfather.[b] After Arthur’s birth, the family remained in Fairfield until 1832, when the elder Arthur’s profession took them on the road again to several towns in Vermont and upstate New York, finally settling in the Schenectady area.[7]
William Arthur’s frequent moves would later form the basis for accusations that Chester Arthur was not a native-born citizen of the United States. After Arthur was nominated for Vice President in 1880, his political opponents suggested that he might be constitutionally ineligible to hold that office.[8] A New York attorney, Arthur P. Hinman, apparently hired by his opponents, explored rumors of Arthur’s foreign birth.[9] Hinman initially alleged that Arthur was born in Ireland and did not come to the United States until he was fourteen years old, which would make him ineligible for the Vice Presidency under the United States Constitution’s natural-born citizen clause.[9][c] When that story did not take root, Hinman spread a new rumor that Arthur was born in Canada, but this claim also failed to gain credence.[9]
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There was never any conclusive proof that Chester Arthur was born in Canada. However, his father was still not naturalized before 1843, a fact that was later lied about to make the father seem he was a citizen in 1828 or 1829, whenever Arthur’s correct birthdate was. However, at that time,(1829) the father was still a citizen of the British Empire.
Going with this source:http://naturalborncitizen.wordpress.com/2008/12/06/urgent-historical-breakthrough-proof-chester-arthur-concealed-he-was-a-british-subject-at-birth/
shows a link to the actual document wherein William Arthur, Chester’s father, was naturalized in August 1843.
Thus, Chester Arthur was born in 1829 a dual citizen and not a natural born citizen, very similar to Obama, as his father was not an American citizen at the time of his birth.
It is true that in 1880 and again in 1884, theories and facts were brought out in a political effort to discredit Arthur, however, the father’s naturalization document is proof that Arthur’s father was not a citizen when Chester was born.
The rest of the article above, by Leo D’Onofrio, is quite explicit about the various lies Chester Arthur told in the 1880 campaign to direct away from his father’s timeline. Chester Arthur also burned all of his personal papers after his Presidency—and we can see why. He lied to run for office and to stay in office.