Alexander Hamilton
Albert Gallatin
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Alexander Hamilton
|
Foreign-born Presidents
But looking through the Statesmen in the game, two of them do not
qualify on this basis.
Alexander Hamilton was born on Nevis in the Caribbean.
Albert Gallatin was born in Switzerland.
Yet there seems to be nothing forbidding either
one of them from becoming President. What's up with that? Isn't a rule
needed there?
For the answer, let's go back to the Constitution, or as I call it,
the original rules book, and quote Section 1 in its entirety (emphasis
mine):
As everyone including Arnold Schwarzenegger knows, Article II of the
United States Constitution clearly defines who can be president,
actually, who cannot: "No Person except a natural born Citizen."
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.
As both were in the new nation at the time of adoption, both Hamilton
and Gallatin were eligible to become President. As it happened,
Hamilton died much too early in his career. Gallatin almost ran for
Vice President, but then ex-president Martin Van Buren talked him out
of it. Maybe he thought Gallatin's foreign birth would be an issue, or
maybe he just thought Gallatin had made too many enemies over the
years. In any case, as a consequence, this particular opening has
never been used and never will be, unless, maybe, cloning gets a lot
better?
Created: 22 December 2014
