Author Archives: John M. Woodman

[To start at the very beginning, click here.]  We have only a few more bits of evidence to look at, from the 20th century and recent history. And we will also take a look at some quotes of what people … Continue reading →

[To start at the very beginning, click here.]  “Four Supreme Court Cases” In the fall of 2009, a blog called “The Post & Email” ran an article which claimed that four US Supreme Court cases had defined the term “natural … Continue reading →

 As we’ve seen in the 1856 Presidential election campaign of John Charles Fremont, there never seems to have been any problem in recognizing that persons born in the United States to non-citizen parents were natural born citizens. By the 1880s, … Continue reading →

[To start at the very beginning, click here.]  In this part, we’ll turn our attention to the developments in citizenship law after the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The first significant development we’ll note is an 1862 Opinion on Citizenship written … Continue reading →

[To start at the very beginning, click here.]  Having examined the meaning of “natural born citizen” during the lifetime of the Founders, let’s look at what it meant between that time and the US Civil War. The founding of the … Continue reading →

[Note: This post began as a portion of Part 3 of this blog’s final article. It has been split out to make a post of its own.]  Previously at this blog, we’ve looked at Mario Apuzzo’s claim that American common … Continue reading →

[To start at the very beginning, click here.]  In Part 1 of this article, we looked at the available historical clues up to the writing of our Constitution, for the meaning of “natural born citizen.” In this part, we’ll see … Continue reading →

“Your… argument is absurd given that historically a “natural born Citizen” had only one definition, i.e., a child born in the country to citizen parents. There never has been any other definition. So your attempt to go looking for one … Continue reading →

Famous Letter from Jay to Washington Proposed a Constitutional “Natural Born Citizen” Clause In the summer of 1787, leaders from across America were gathered in Philadelphia in a convention that would create a new Constitution for the fledgling United States. … Continue reading →

For the past 3 years, a few people have been pushing the idea that the Constitutional term “natural born citizen” comes from “natural law” or the “law of nature” — and that by the law of nature, “it takes two … Continue reading →