Well, your comments are notoriously silly.
The following quotes directly come from Barack Obama’s own website: “When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4,1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Sr.‘s children.
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 1964 that:
“We start from the premise that the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity, and are coextensive. The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the “natural born” citizen is eligible to be President. Art. II, § 1. [the naturalized citizen] becomes a member of the society, possessing all the rights of a native citizen, and standing, in the view of the constitution, on the footing of a native. The constitution does not authorize Congress to enlarge or abridge those rights. The simple power of the national Legislature is to prescribe a uniform rule of naturalization, and the exercise of this power exhausts it so far as respects the individual.”
“Schneider v. Rusk,” 377 U.S. 163 (1964)
Hey James, you do realize that President Jackson was grandfathered past the NBC require, right?
Born March 15, 1767 - he was a "a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution". Therefore, he was Constitutionally Qualified.
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in 1964 that: “We start from the premise that the rights of citizenship of the native born and of the naturalized person are of the same dignity, and are coextensive. The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the “natural born” citizen is eligible to be President. Art. II, § 1. [the naturalized citizen] becomes a member of the society, possessing all the rights of a native citizen, and standing, in the view of the constitution, on the footing of a native. The constitution does not authorize Congress to enlarge or abridge those rights. The simple power of the national Legislature is to prescribe a uniform rule of naturalization, and the exercise of this power exhausts it so far as respects the individual.”
“Schneider v. Rusk,” 377 U.S. 163 (1964)"
From your very own quote:
"The only difference drawn by the Constitution is that only the “natural born” citizen is eligible to be President.
CLEARLY, that decision is making a distinction between native and natural born.
jamese777,
You have incorrect information.
Every President born before the adoption of the Constitution in 1787 was eligible because of the grandfather clause of Article 2, Section 1:
“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;”
Both Andrew Jackson and Thomas Jefferson are covered by that clause.
James Buchanan’s father emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1783. When the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787 (and ratified in 1788), it conferred citizenship upon everyone living in the States. Therefore James Buchanan’s father was a citizen of the United States when James Buchanan was born in 1791. So, James Buchanan was a natural born citizen.
Woodrow Wilson’s mother became a U.S. citizen by Congressional act in 1855. Wilson was born in 1856. Therefore, both of Wilson’s parents were U.S. citizens, which makes Wilson a natual born citizen.
Herbert Hoover’s mother became a citizen in 1870 under the same 1855 Congressional act that conferred citizenship on Wilson’s mother. Hoover was born in 1874 to two U.S. citizen parents and he is therefore a natural born citizen.
Chester Arthur is a different story and a long one at that. So, I’ll refer you to these groundbreaking discoveries regarding the citizenship of Arthur.
The same applies to Andrew Johnson. His parents were naturalized before he was born. Therefore he was natural born citizen too.
Regards,
Tex
P.S. The above facts are courtesy of the following article by Leo Donofrio.
(None of the above links works anymore.)