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To: 4Zoltan

If everyone agreed with everyone else on all points, we wouldn’t need a Constitution, a Congress or a website such as this one :-)

Yes, Madison and Ramsay disagreed on some points regarding citizenship. And most certainly on other issues as well. But from the evidence, the only major disagreement between them regarding citizenship was the effect of the fact the Mr. Smith was absent from the American Continent when the Declaration of Independence went into effect. And from his words, Madison might have reached a different conclusion had Mr. Smith not still been a minor at that moment.

It seems to me that that issue is too technical and too off-topic to be worth including in the essay.


78 posted on 02/07/2012 3:11:41 PM PST by sourcery (If true=false, then there would be no constraints on what is possible. Hence, the world exists.)
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To: sourcery

“If everyone agreed with everyone else on all points, we wouldn’t need a Constitution”

You hit the nail on the head. The disagreements in 1787 were as great then as they are today.

And it is why you can have William Rawle say,

“Therefore every person born within the United States, its territories or districts, whether the parents are citizens or aliens, is a natural born citizen in the sense of the Constitution, and entitled to all the rights and privileges appertaining to that capacity.”

Like Dr. Ramsay, William Rawle was also in a good position to know the minds of the Framers.


79 posted on 02/07/2012 5:21:40 PM PST by 4Zoltan
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