[Political Junkie Too]

Yes, I said after Independence and implied before ratification.

-PJ

[Political Junkie Too]

Interestingly, this became an issue for Founding Father Thomas Paine.

In 1806, the town of New Rochelle, NY denied Paine permission to vote, declaring him a non-citizen. Despite being an early supporter of the Independency movement, the supervisor of elections was a son of locals who sided with the British during the Revolutionary War, and claimed that since Paine was imprisoned in France by Robespierre and the American ambassador did not demand his release, this meant that Paine was not a citizen of the United States.

Paine appealed to Vice-President George Clinton, who declined to reply. In his appeal, Paine lamented that the new generation doesn't remember who he was or what role he played in 1776.

You can read Paine's letters of appeal in this post of mine from 2019.

-PJ