AHC: Thomas Paine as President

Just get rid of the clause that says that only people born to U.S. citizens can be president. It's the one way to be sure.....
The law at the time said that anyone who lived in the colonies when the US declared independence was eligible to be President. Paine arrived in the colonies in 1774 and hence was eligible.
 
^This. I wish people would remember the (profoundly useless as it turned out) "Alexander Hamilton" clause when they comment on this. (And the law is 'natural-born citizens', which does not mean simply 'people born in the United States', but that's another issue...)

Now turning to the man--Paine suffers from a lot of the same problems that--well, Hamilton does--he's a political extremist with an alienating personality. Further, as opposed to Hamilton, he doesn't really want political power to begin with.
 
^This. I wish people would remember the (profoundly useless as it turned out) "Alexander Hamilton" clause when they comment on this. (And the law is 'natural-born citizens', which does not mean simply 'people born in the United States', but that's another issue...)

Now turning to the man--Paine suffers from a lot of the same problems that--well, Hamilton does--he's a political extremist with an alienating personality. Further, as opposed to Hamilton, he doesn't really want political power to begin with.

That's a valid point that SpanishSpy and yourself have brought up here, but my idea was, there may be some in Congress who might want to exclude *anyone* not born in the 13 colonies, so I thought expanding on the "Grandfather Clause" and modifying it so anyone can become President if a U.S. citizen and not just those who were grandfathered in as in our world. I hope I'm making sense here. :eek:
 
That's a valid point that SpanishSpy and yourself have brought up here, but my idea was, there may be some in Congress who might want to exclude *anyone* not born in the 13 colonies, so I thought expanding on the "Grandfather Clause" and modifying it so anyone can become President if a U.S. citizen and not just those who were grandfathered in as in our world. I hope I'm making sense here. :eek:

...

The members in Congress can say whatever the hell they want. The clause is there in black and white. Paine can legally run.
 
Great idea, theDisciple. Hopefully we can get him in office before he goes looney tunes and thinks George Washington is out to get him.
 

Sulemain

Banned
As much as I admire Paine (and Hamilton) for that matter, both of them would be disasters as Presidents. Paine to utopian, Hamilton to authoritarian. Both of them found there Niche.
 
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