Natural born clause goes

My comment was in response to Oshron saying [...]

or are we not allowed to disagree with such a blanket accusation of racism?
in my defense, i've had to deal with plenty of birthers and wingnuts on a different site (Historum) which has made me much less forgiving than i used to be of political arguments like this (birtherism, etc.); similarly, i hold little sympathy for the South in general because of Lost Causers, particularly "War of Northern Aggression" arguments, and because it's my observation that, historically, the South has a record of bitching and moaning whenever they don't get their way, with birtherism being just the most recent form of this (admittedly, though, i realize that this is very foolish of me, especially since i know plenty of people from the South who are genuinely good people even if i may disagree with them on such matters, as our common interests override political differences, and my mom grew up in the South)

i have a general rule of maintaining objectivity and civility, but can only be pushed so far, and the very idea of birtherism crossed the line three or four years ago
 

Orry

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in my defense, i've had to deal with plenty of birthers and wingnuts on a different site (Historum) which has made me much less forgiving than i used to be of political arguments like this (birtherism, etc.); similarly, i hold little sympathy for the South in general because of Lost Causers, particularly "War of Northern Aggression" arguments, and because it's my observation that, historically, the South has a record of bitching and moaning whenever they don't get their way, with birtherism being just the most recent form of this (admittedly, though, i realize that this is very foolish of me, especially since i know plenty of people from the South who are genuinely good people even if i may disagree with them on such matters, as our common interests override political differences, and my mom grew up in the South)

i have a general rule of maintaining objectivity and civility, but can only be pushed so far, and the very idea of birtherism crossed the line three or four years ago

From what I have read (mainly here on AH) I believe either a sizable minority or a small majority could well have a race related bias - I suspect for those I know it is more a political bias... the fact Obama is a democrat is more important than that he is not 'white'.

Personally I am glad I live in a country where a first generation citizen is (as far as I am aware) eligable for any political office
 
Hearkening back to the original reason for the clause, how about... William Wales? He was sort of popular a year or so ago;). I think that's the last name he's using in the RAF...

And yes, I agree it should be gotten rid of. Perhaps both parties could agree to repeal it effective ten years or so after the amendment passes?
 
WI as part of the anti racism of the 60s that section refering to a President being natural born was dropped by Constitutional amendment...

Highly unlikely. The "natural-born" clause was never about race, it was about allegiance - the possibility that someone whose true allegiance was to a foreign country could become President.

If that sounds crazy, consider how many "foreign" princes became Kings of European countries. George I of Great Britain, for instance; and William III for another.

Foreigners rising to very high office was commonplace. The Austrian statesman Prince von Metternich was a Rhenish German, not an Austrian subject by birth. Marshal Bernadotte, a Frenchman, became King of Sweden. (Both slightly after the Framing, but there are earlier examples, I'm sure.)

The Framers wanted to insure that the Chief Executive of the United States would be an American, not a hybrid. They were concerned about foreigners from Europe or other places, not non-white Americans (of which there were already plenty). This concern was reinforced during the immigration panic of the 1850s, and continued during the vast wave of immigration that continued up to the 1920s.

Racism existed all through this period and barred non-whites from the Presidency, but it had nothing to do with their national origins; very few were not native born.

It was not until after the 1960s that the U.S. began to receive large numbers of non-white immigrants from Asia and Africa, and the "native-born" clause had a racially disparate impact.
 
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