This has been a question plaguing my family for months now, not because it happened, but because it could. We live in Michigan, but frequently go across the Detroit-Windsor border into Canada for the casino/cheap booze (Hey, gotta be honest, right?) We are all American citizens, but one of the people going with us is pregnant. What would happen if she suddenly went into labor early, and couldn’t get back across the border, and the baby was born in Canada?
2 Questions: Would this person have American or Canadian citizenship? And, could this person be president, given the constitutional restrictions?
Or, what if I was overseas, on a tourist visa, and the baby was born there?
I mean, taking practicality into account, I doubt this’ll matter, but, I was just wondering, in case.
The baby would have American citizenship, but I don’t know about dual (Canadian or other foreign) citizenship.
The baby would NOT be eligible to be president.
One of the criteria for being President is being born in the US. For example…associated cabinet members (like Albright or Kissenger) that were not born in the US would be excluded from the Presidential succession list.
The baby WOULD be eligible to be president, since all the constitution says is that to qualify one must be “a naturally born citizen” of the United States, i.e., a citizen by virtue of birth (rather than naturalized), which would be the case in this instance. The constitution doesn’t say anything about where one must be born. This has never been tested however, since to my knowledge no president has been born outside the territory of the United States.
I thought that George Washington and perhaps a couple of others were born outside the United States, as it didn’t exist at the time of their births, but I assume that there was provision made for them when the constitution was drafted.
- Bubba.
Others have provided the answer, but here’s a cite:
(From http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html)
From Article II, Section 1 of the Consitution:
I retract my assertion that the baby would not be eligible. It PROBABLY would. However, the term “natural born citizen” is nowhere defined in the Constitution, and has apprently never been defined in the Federal courts either.
This site flatly states that the person WOULD be eligible.
This “American Citizens Abroad” site says the question remains open. It notes that there were 2 presidential candidates who MAY have faced court challenges if their election had gone that far. Barry Goldwater was born in Arizona BEFORE it became a state. George Romney was born in Mexico of American parents, exactly what the OP posits.
One thing is sure. If the baby comes back and grows up in the US, he/she can certainly run for the Presidency.
Given the increasing litigeousness of American society since the '60s, there would almost certainly be a court challenge if your child won.
And I suppose that would settle the question.
Tangential Note: My high-school history teacher taught that there was a rumor that Andrew Jackson was born on a boat on its way to the United States, although he maintained he was born on American soil.
You’re taking pregnant chicks to Canada for gambling and cheap booze?! :eek:
Martin Van Buren was the first President born in the United States, by definition.
Although Chester A. Arthur gave Fairfield, Vermont, as his birthplace, some have alleged that he was actually born several miles north, in Quebec. Apparently, his parents lived in the woods, sometimes N and sometimes S of the border. Sorry, no cite.
OK, here’s a cite:
http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/canada/president.asp
It says, “Burke’s Presidential Families of the United States of America says that despite the official birthplace, Arthur ‘was probably born in Canada.’ Other sources make the same claim, almost off-handedly, but argue that since his parents were U.S citizens Arthur’s eligibility for the presidency wasn’t challenged. His eligibility was challenged in 1880 when Arthur was the vice-presidential candidate running with James Garfield. According to Thomas C. Reeves, a biographer of Arthur, the Democrats hired a New York attorney named Arthur Hinman to explore these rumors and make a report. Hinman alleged that Arthur was born in Quebec his grandparents’ house. Hinman says Arthur’s mother often visited her parents in Dunham, Quebec. Another biographer, George Howe, describes this theory as ‘an interesting hoax’ that received little attention at the time.”
A thread that mentions my two favorite Presidents: Van Buren and Arthur. A red letter day.
It was bad enough that Arthur was born in Vermont. That’s barely a state! It’s the Delaware of New England!
Apropos of nothing in particular, there was some speculation as to whether Barry Goldwater was eligible to be elected president, as he was born in the Arizona Territory before it became a state.
yojimboguy mentioned that also, but I would think that was addressed by this part of the law Philbuck cited:
*Any one born in a U.S. possession, if one parent is a citizen and lived in the U.S. for at least one year *
John McCain was born in the Canal Zone, and no one has questioned his eligibility to be president. We won’t get a definitive answer unless or until a borderline case is litigated, but the interpretation put forth by Philbuck’s cite would seem to be the common-sense way to go.
Incorrect. The Constitutional criterion is being a native-born citizen of the US. It excludes naturalised citizens, but includes the children of US citizens where-ever they are born.
Regards,
Agback
If he wins a presidential election, you can bet the Democrats WILL challenge his eligibility.
It would be more likely that the Republicans would want to challenge McCain’s eligibility. There were plenty of opportunities to do so during the 2000 campaign.
McCain would not be a borderline case. He was born in a U.S. territory.
The borderline cases will be people born on foreign soil, but of U.S. citizens. And I believe that any such challenge would come up during the campaign, not after the election.