THE FOUNDERS AND FRAMERS EMPHATICALLY DECIDED NO IT WAS NOT!
by CDR Charles F. Kerchner, Jr. (Ret), ©2020, blogging at CDRKerchner
(Sep. 17, 2020) — During the process of developing the U.S. Constitution Alexander Hamilton submitted a suggested draft for a Constitution on June 18, 1787. At some point, he also suggested to the framers a proposal for the qualification requirements in Article II as to the necessary Citizenship status for the office of President and Commander in Chief of the Military. Another version of Hamilton’s proposed Constitution and which principles were stated during the convention’s deliberations per Madison notes and journal (see work of Farrand – pg 619), was given to Madison near the close of the convention for inclusion in Madison record of events for the convention. Hamilton’s proposed Constitution was not accepted.
Alexander Hamilton’s suggested presidential eligibility clause:
“No person shall be eligible to the office of President of the United States unless he be now a Citizen of one of the States, or hereafter be born a Citizen of the United States.”
Many of the founders and framers rightly had a fear of foreign influence on the person who would in the future be President of the United States since this particular office was singularly and uniquely powerful under the proposed new Constitution. The President was also to be the Commander in Chief of the military. This fear of foreign influence on a future President and Commander in Chief was particularly strongly felt by John Jay, who later became the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He felt so strongly about the issue of potential foreign influence that he took it upon himself to draft a letter to General George Washington, the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention, recommending/hinting that the framers should strengthen the Citizenship requirements. John Jay was an avid reader and proponent of natural law and particularly Vattel’s treatise on Natural Law and the Law of Nations. In his letter to Washington he said that the Citizenship requirement for the office of the commander of our armies should contain a “strong check” against foreign influence and he recommended to Washington that the command of the military be open only to a “natural born Citizen”. Thus Jay did not agree that simply being a “born Citizen” or “born a Citizen” was sufficient enough protection from foreign influence in the singular most powerful office in the new form of government. He wanted another adjective added to the eligibility clause, i.e., ‘natural’. And that word natural goes to the Citizenship status of one’s parents, both of them, when their child is born, as per natural law.
The below is the relevant proposed change language from Jay’s letter which he proposed to strengthen the citizenship requirements in Article II and to require more than just being a “born Citizen” of the United States to serve as a future Commander in Chief and President.
John Jay wrote in a letter to George Washington dated 25 Jul 1787:
“Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen. “
See a transcription of Jay’s letter to Washington at this link. This letter from Jay was written on July 25, 1787. General Washington passed on the recommendation from Jay to the convention and it was adopted in the final draft and was accepted adding the adjective “natural” making it “natural born Citizen of the United States” for future Presidents and Commanders in Chief of the military, rather than Hamilton’s proposed “born a Citizen”. Thus Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution, the fundamental law of our nation reads:
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of U.S. Constitution as adopted 17 Sep 1787:
“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.”
Read the rest here.
Fine article, CDR Kerchner, especially in 2020 when our rebellious government-citizenry allows a Constitutionally-ineligible (25th Amendment, incapacitation) attorney-criminal Joe Biden to run for president instead of running for prison, along with attorney-criminal foreign-citizen Kamala Harris!
http://legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2016/05/john-jay-on-natural-born-citizenship.html >>>
“While serving as a delegate to the New York Ratifying Convention, Jay proposed on July 25, 1788, and the convention approved, a constitutional amendment requiring “natural born” citizenship for eligibility for president [Obama], vice president [Kamala], and member of both houses of Congress [Ilhan Omar et al]…”.
So, we see with this second letter, dated exactly one year after his first letter to Gen. Washington, John Jay proposed FURTHER RESTRICTIONS ON TOP GOVERNMENT-CITIZEN OFFICE-HOLDERS.
For those who read John Jay “Founding Father” by Stahr, two things become apparent about John Jay:
1. Jay learned from his judicial career, men, foreign and domestic, are always conniving for self-power; that foreign influence allowed at the top offices of US government can take-over (“funda-MENTALLY TRANSFORM”) and erase the Founding Fathers’ life work.
2. Jay was a religious person and respectful of the non-negotiable forever laws of nature. I believe after reading said book, that Jay augmented “born [US] Citizen” with “natural” TO FURTHER ENSURE that the natural parents of any president be naturally free of man-made foreign citizenship(s); that the Original [male and female foreign subject adults] US Citizens of 1787 have children born in a foreign-free sole US-jurisdiction to Original “naturalized” US Citizen-parents or, later, to foreign-citizenship-free US citizen-parents.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/John_Jay/a9Jm_RDtq3cC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover
To all attorney-criminals who connive for self-power that John Jay was so very wary of:
1. Where did John Jay ever approve of any president being born in sole-foreign/Canada-jurisdiction, like Canada Cruz?
2.Where did John Jay ever approve of any president being born to non-US foreign-citizen parents, like Arthur, Obama and Kamala and Cruz et al?
3. Where did John Jay ever approve of any president hiding his or her full life history and full identity from voters, with government-citizen assistance, like Obama, Kamala, Cruz et al?
Today, I wonder if Linda Jordan, who discovered that FAKE presIDent Obama II could not pass E-Verify, can secure the REAL ID of Obama II?
https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/nearly-two-decades-after-9-11-states-finally-comply-with-drivers-license-security-law/
AMERICA 1620- 2020: from self-government experiment to selfish-government reality
“They” (whoever “they” are ) will do anything to avoid dealing with Obama (again, whoever “Obama” is) and the forged birth certificate, the stolen SSN card and the (who knows where it came from) draft card. Kamala Harris – so what about her, that’s not the main disease, just a symptom of it. Ain’t no virus vaccine shot gonna cure this.
Perhaps a simplification, but I like to point out to others that Natural Born means a type of second generation American. Cdr. Kerchner makes the point clear. Such a test puts more distance between any sense of allegiance to the original country of origin and feeling you are an American citizen.
Another point not discussed is that when you compare the constitutional standards for Congress and for President, they clearly set a lower standard and use a different term, “Citizen” versus “Natural Born Citizen”. These are intended to represent two different categories, with the latter being more stringent. This would be further indicated by the longer period of time in this country required for Natural Born Citizen status.