Foreign-Born US Presidents

[Yahweh]

From the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, 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, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

What does this part of the Constitution imply?

I cannot determine whether this bars the Australian who later becomes a citizen of America from becoming our next president or other such "Foreign-born citizens".

Can someone clarify this for me?

 

[Some Friggin Guy]

What it means is that no one not born in the US may serve as president.

The part about being a citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution is kind of a catch-all, since I don't think anyone born in the US at the time would have met the age requirements to serve as president.

 

[zultr]

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

If you're not born in the US (or born elsewhere to US citizens), you can't be president.

The "14 years a resident" part only applies to those who were born elsewhere and became citizens by the time the Constitution was adopted, but there aren't many of them left by now.

Edited to add: now that I think about it, I'm not sure I have a clue. I think I agree with SFG. However, I don't know if there was some kind of naturalization process in place after the Declaration of Independence or under the Articles of Confederation that would have allowed foreign born citizens to become naturalized citizens by the time the Constitution was adopted, thereby allowing them to be president after 14 years in country and reaching age 35. If not, then it's pretty simple; if so, then it's irrelevant 200+ years after the fact anyway. But like I said, the more I think about it, the more I think I don't have a clue.

 

[Virgil]

this was put into our legal documents only so Arnold Swartzanagger could not become our president. see what insight our founding fathers had...

of course Sen. Orin Hatch wants to change that so his foregin buddies can become president...

Virgil

 

[Luke T.]

From the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:

What does this part of the Constitution imply?

I cannot determine whether this bars the Australian who later becomes a citizen of America from becoming our next president or other such "Foreign-born citizens".

Can someone clarify this for me?

It does indeed bar the Australian who later becomes a citizen from becoming our President.

You must be a natural born citizen, lived inside the U.S. for 14 years, and be at least 35. The rest of the wording is because there obviously was no one who had been born in the U.S. at the time the Constitution was adopted as the U.S. hadn't existed.

 

[Ladewig]

The "14 years a resident" part only applies to those who were born elsewhere and became citizens by the time the Constitution was adopted, but there aren't many of them left by now.

I interpret this part to mean even people born in the U.S. in the 20th century must have spent the last 14 years in the U.S. to run for president.

 

[zultr]

Re: Re: Foreign-Born US Presidents

It does indeed bar the Australian who later becomes a citizen from becoming our President.

You must be a natural born citizen, lived inside the U.S. for 14 years, and be at least 35. The rest of the wording is because there obviously was no one who had been born in the U.S. at the time the Constitution was adopted as the U.S. hadn't existed.

I'm with you on the first part, but I'm confused about the "rest of the wording" part. Technically, the US existed since 1776. The Declaration includes the following: "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America," and "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America..." I have no idea what constituted citizenship at that time.

The US was also in existence when the Articles of Confederation were in effect (ratified 1781), but I'm no expert on citizenship under the Articles.

I'm also confused about the following:

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

It the bold text modifying the first clause and simply explaining that a "natural born citizen" is a "citizen of the United States," or is it saying that there are 2 kinds: natural born and those who are considered citizens at the time the Consitution was adopted? Anyone? I tend to think it's the former.

> Ladewig: I agree; see my bewilderment above for an explanation for my original take.

 

[Luke T.]

Re: Re: Re: Foreign-Born US Presidents

I'm with you on the first part, but I'm confused about the "rest of the wording" part. Technically, the US existed since 1776. The Declaration includes the following: "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America," and "We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America..." I have no idea what constituted citizenship at that time.

The US was also in existence when the Articles of Confederation were in effect (ratified 1781), but I'm no expert on citizenship under the Articles.

The Constitution was written in 1787. 1787 - 14 = 1773.

 

[zultr]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Foreign-Born US Presidents

The Constitution was written in 1787. 1787 - 14 = 1773.

Gotcha. The dawn breaks.

 

[PinkRabbit]

Psst, Arnie's Austrian, not Australian.

 

[zultr]

Gotcha. The dawn breaks.

I definitely need sleep, but the last part of that section doesn't mean that you had to be a resident for 14 years at the time the constitution was adopted in 1787. The word "neither" begins a list of separate and additional qualifications. You only had to be a citizen at the time of adoption; you have to be a resident for 14 years before you can be elected (I assume it is an aggregate total of 14 years, since nothing indicates it must be a term of consecutive years).

 

[Zep]

Re: Re: Foreign-Born US Presidents

It does indeed bar the Australian who later becomes a citizen from becoming our President.

AAAAAAAAAaaawww!! That was on my to-do list...

You're no fun any more.

 

[hgc]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Foreign-Born US Presidents

The Constitution was written in 1787. 1787 - 14 = 1773.

Fact Patrol:

The necessary 9 out of 13 states had ratified the constitution by June, 1788. It formally took effect March 4, 1789.

 

[Drooper]

It means that you shouldn't be too scared of Arnie.

 

[Luke T.]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Foreign-Born US Presidents

Fact Patrol:

The necessary 9 out of 13 states had ratified the constitution by June, 1788. It formally took effect March 4, 1789.

I said "written," not "ratified." They had no way of knowing if/when it would be ratified.

 

[CFLarsen]

Psst, Arnie's Austrian, not Australian.

To Americans, the same thing.

 

[hgc]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Foreign-Born US Presidents

I said "written," not "ratified." They had no way of knowing if/when it would be ratified.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you said "written" in reference to a discussion for which date of adoption was relevant. So indeed you were accurate, but ...

 

[roger]

To Americans, the same thing.

Ya, but that's only because they don't speak American in either of those places!

 

[Abdul Alhazred]

From the United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:

What does this part of the Constitution imply?

I cannot determine whether this bars the Australian who later becomes a citizen of America from becoming our next president or other such "Foreign-born citizens".

Can someone clarify this for me?

It means that Schwartzenegger is prohibited from following in the footsteps of Reagan. Yay Benjamin Franklin!

 

[Abdul Alhazred]

To Americans, the same thing.

You mis-characterize us. You Danes don't know about Outback Steakhouse. Their radio commercials have raised our consciousness about Australia.

We Italo-Americans have great-grandparents who fought the Austrians.

But we're just plain Americans now. Austrians are ignorable. But we'd like to raise a pint with Australians.

Are 'pints' still allowed down under? What is that in litres?