To be President of U.S.

[Mayfriday0529]

You have to be a Natural Born Citizen to be President of the U.S. correct?

This sentece is weird in the Constitution.

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.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
You have to be a Natural Born Citizen to be President of the U.S. correct?

This sentece is weird in the Constitution.

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 exactly is weird about it?

 

[Chryso]

Well, at the time it was written a lot of people weren't born here.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Chryso
Well, at the time it was written a lot of people weren't born here.

but thats not the part he has in bold

 

[BornStar]

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
You have to be a Natural Born Citizen to be President of the U.S. correct?

This sentece is weird in the Constitution.

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 whole sentence and it makes more sense.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Chryso
Well, at the time it was written a lot of people weren't born here.

Bingo. Meaning any citizen of the US that was an actual citizen when the Constitution was adopted could be president.

Hell, if that wasn't written in, we wouldn't have had some of the first Presidents of the US.

 

[Tylanner]

it mean people that were alive when it was constituted

 

[Mayfriday0529]

ohhhhh good stuff... the Constitution is a tough thing to full understand...

 

[JDrake]

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
ohhhhh good stuff... the Constitution is a tough thing to full understand...

I don't like it 🙁

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
ohhhhh good stuff... the Constitution is a tough thing to full understand...

You expect to understand it when the SC Justices can't even get it right 😉

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: BornStar18
Read the whole sentence and it makes more sense.

Yep. People don't use parentheses enough:

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...

Heck, even an em dash would make it easy to read:

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...

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: BornStar18
Read the whole sentence and it makes more sense.

Yep. People don't use parentheses enough:

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...

Damn founding fathers and their commas. :|

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: BornStar18
Read the whole sentence and it makes more sense.

Yep. People don't use parentheses enough:

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...

I thought I finally had a chance... guess not.

 

[meltdown75]

Bush is a member here? That explains a lot.

 

[Linflas]

What is so hard about it? At the time it was adopted there were no natural born citizens older that roughly 10 so they had to add that exception to cover the time period from the founding of the country to 35 years forward. As for the 14 year piece it was to ensure that since they had created an exemption to the natural born requirement to restrict it to those that had been here from the start of the revolution forward.

 

[Tom]

I don't think parenthesis were invented back then. They only had the comma to work with. 😉

Before the Constitution was adopted, how did a person become a citizen ?

Just curious.

 

[Chryso]

Originally posted by: Tom
I don't think parenthesis were invented back then. They only had the comma to work with. 😉

Before the Constitution was adopted, how did a person become a citizen ?

Just curious.

There were no citizens back then because it wasn't a country.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BigJ

Originally posted by: Chryso
Well, at the time it was written a lot of people weren't born here.

Bingo. Meaning any citizen of the US that was an actual citizen when the Constitution was adopted could be president.

Hell, if that wasn't written in, we wouldn't have had some of the first Presidents of the US.

We wouldn't have had ANY president for the first 35 years!

 

[CaptnKirk]

That sentance was written to allow the founders of the country an exemption to become president.
The United States officially celebrates its founding date as July 4, 1776

Presidents

1) George Washington - the 'First President' wasn't born in the United States -
it didn't exist at the time of his birth.
Washington was born in 1732 in Virginia.
Took first Oath of Office to become the First United States President on April 30, 1789.

2) John Adams, # 2 - likewise, Born: Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1735.

3) Thomas Jefferson - Same story. Born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia.

4) James Madison - Born in 1751.

5) James Monroe - Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758.

6) John Q. Adams - Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1767.

7) Andrew Jackson - Born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas in 1767.

8) Martin Van Buren - Born in 1782, in Kinderhook, New York.
(the First 'Born in the United States' president)

9) William Henry Harrison - born at Berkeley, Virginia in 1773.

10) John Tyler - born in Virginia in 1790.

Only 2 of the first 10 Presidents were born in the Official Country of the United States.

Since # 10, that string has not been broken - very few 230+ year old men run for office.

 

[Tom]

Originally posted by: Chryso

Originally posted by: Tom
I don't think parenthesis were invented back then. They only had the comma to work with. 😉

Before the Constitution was adopted, how did a person become a citizen ?

Just curious.

There were no citizens back then because it wasn't a country.

Yes it was, for 11 years. (1776-1787)

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: BornStar18
Read the whole sentence and it makes more sense.

Yep. People don't use parentheses enough:

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...

Heck, even an em dash would make it easy to read:

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...

Just taking out the comma between States and at helps a lot. But the "rules" on comma usage may have been different back then.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: Chryso

Originally posted by: Tom
I don't think parenthesis were invented back then. They only had the comma to work with. 😉

Before the Constitution was adopted, how did a person become a citizen ?

Just curious.

There were no citizens back then because it wasn't a country.

It is not mentioned in the Articles of Confederation so I would have to assume the requirements were left up to the individual states.

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk
That sentance was written to allow the founders of the country an exemption to become president.
The United States officially celebrates its founding date as July 4, 1776

Presidents

1) George Washington - the 'First President' wasn't born in the United States -
it didn't exist at the time of his birth.
Washington was born in 1732 in Virginia.
Took first Oath of Office to become the First United States President on April 30, 1789.

2) John Adams, # 2 - likewise, Born: Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1735.

3) Thomas Jefferson - Same story. Born in 1743 in Albemarle County, Virginia.

4) James Madison - Born in 1751.

5) James Monroe - Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, in 1758.

6) John Q. Adams - Born in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1767.

7) Andrew Jackson - Born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas in 1767.

8) Martin Van Buren - Born in 1782, in Kinderhook, New York.
(the First 'Born in the United States' president)

9) William Henry Harrison - born at Berkeley, Virginia in 1773.

10) John Tyler - born in Virginia in 1790.

Only 2 of the first 10 Presidents were born in the Official Country of the United States.

Since # 10, that string has not been broken - very few 230+ year old men run for office.

thats good history..

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: joedrake

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
ohhhhh good stuff... the Constitution is a tough thing to full understand...

I don't like it 🙁

I suppose you could go work for the Bush administration.. They don't seem to like it either.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33

Originally posted by: joedrake

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
ohhhhh good stuff... the Constitution is a tough thing to full understand...

I don't like it 🙁

I suppose you could go work for the Bush administration.. They don't seem to like it either.

As if the "living Constitution" ("forget what it really says and screw the original intent, it means what we want it to mean") liberals like it any better?