Minor v. Happersett, 88 U.S. 162 (1874)
“The Constitution does not, in words, say who shall be natural-born citizens. Resort must be had elsewhere to ascertain that. At common-law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the Constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country of parents who were its citizens became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives, or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners.”
“Some authorities go further and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of the parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first.”
- Morrison Waite
The case, which regarded women suffrage, was a unanimous decision. Unfortunately, they ruled against the woman.
I became so immersed in this issue that I know more than I ever wanted to know about this issue, but I am reluctant to get down in the weeds now. We could discuss it for hours. Suffice it to say, this issue needs to resolved by SCOTUS sooner rather than later.
It is that seconf quote, by Morrison Waite*, upon which the anti-birthers all hang they’re hats.
They argue that because Obama was born in Hawaii, a state in the United States of America, to an American mother, he is a natural born citizen, and who his father was doesn’t matter.
You and I may disagree, but I do believe it is going to take another Supreme Court decision to rule one way or the other, and even so, the current times and politics will dictate the verdict more than the mindset of the Founding Fathers, sadly.
* I had to look him up. He was the 7th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, appointed by Ulysses S. Grant directly when all of his previous nominations resigned due to corruption! Moreover, I and Waite are distantly related, as in Colonial times, my family settled Connecticut (Roger Tyrrell, Milford, Connecticut, 1636).