IS MR. CHARLES EVANS HUGHES A “NATURAL BORN CITIZEN” WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE CONSTITUTION?
by Beckinridge Long @ Chicago Legal News
Click on the following link to read his full legal examination and historical analysis of the constitutional meaning of “natural born Citizen of the United States”: http://www.scribd.com/doc/68922032/Natural-Born-Citizen-Within-Meaning-of-Constitution-by-Breckenridge-Long-Democrat-1916
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Breckinridge Long – A “Natural Born Citizen” Within the Meaning of the Constitution
Page 1 of 10
“Whether Mr. Hughes is, or is not, a “natural born” citizen within the meaning of the
Constitution, so as to make him eligible or ineligible, to assume the office of President,
presents an interesting inquiry.
He was born in this country and is beyond question “native born.” But is there not a
distinction between “native born” and “natural born”? At the time he was born his father and
mother were subjects of England. His father had not then been naturalized. The day after Mr.
Hughes was born his father had a right, as an English subject, to go to the British consul, at
New York, and to present his wife and infant and to claim any assistance he might need from
the consul as the representative of the English government.
If war had broken out between this government and England this government would have
had a right to interne the father, the mother and the son as subjects of an enemy power.
The Constitution of the United States puts a particular qualification upon those who shall
become President and Vice-President. For all other offices it requires that they be “citizens of
the United States,” but for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency it requires that they be
“Natural Born citizens.” The word “natural” means “of the nature of”; “naturally a part of”;
“by the laws of nature an integral part of” a system. Following that line of thought, a “natural
born” citizen would be one who was naturally, at his birth, a member of the political society;
naturally, a part of the political system into which he was born; by the laws of nature a citizen
of the society into which he was born. It would mean, further, that no other government had
any claim upon him; that his sole allegiance was to the government into which he had been
born and that that government was solely, at the time, responsible for his protection. “Native
born” does not mean quite the same thing. He might be born in a country under conditions
similar to the conditions under which Mr. Hughes was born, and subsequently become a
citizen of that Country. In that case, after he became a citizen, he would be a “native born”
citizen, but he would not have been a “natural born” citizen. From the instant of his birth this
government would not be solely responsible for his protection.
Mr. Hughes was born before the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
so the status of his citizenship must be considered as under the laws existing prior to the time
of the adoption of that Amendment.
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Breckinridge Long – A “Natural Born Citizen” Within the Meaning of the Constitution
Page 2 of 10
The only reference in the Constitution to the subject (except that Section specifying the
qualifications for President) is that Congress shall have the power to make uniform laws to
provide for naturalization. Congress under that authority enacted the following law: “The
children of persons who have been duly naturalized under any law of the United States, being
under the age of twenty-one years at the time of the naturalization of their parents, shall, if
dwelling in the United States, be considered as citizens thereof.” That Statute says that
children born of persons who have been duly naturalized become citizens, but become so by
virtue of the act of the parent. That is, they become naturalized citizens. They are citizens by
operation of law. They were not born so, but, because of the act of their father, are invested
with all the rights of citizens. If they are born in this country and their father subsequently
becomes naturalized, they then, upon the naturalization of the father, become citizens. After
becoming citizens they are “native born” citizens; but they are not “natural born citizens.”
That is, they are not born, in the nature of things and by the laws of nature, a citizen of this
Republic. If the father becomes naturalized before the birth of the child and is at the time of
the birth of the child a citizen of the United States, then the child is a “natural born” citizen.
But in the case of Mr. Hughes the father was not naturalized at the time the son was born, and
was at that time a subject of England. How could the son be a “natural born” citizen of the
United States? If you had been born in England of American parents, would it be necessary
for you to be naturalized if you came to this country to reside? No. If he, born in this country
of English parents, had returned to England to reside, would it have been necessary for him to
be naturalized there? No. If it was not necessary for him to be naturalized in England, would
he be a “natural born citizen” of the United States? ….. “
Continue reading here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/68922032/Natural-Born-Citizen-Within-Meaning-of-Constitution-by-Breckenridge-Long-Democrat-1916
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CDR Charles Kerchner, P.E. (Retired)
Lehigh Valley PA USA
http://www.protectourliberty.org/
https://cdrkerchner.wordpress.com/
http://www.scribd.com/protectourliberty/collections/
P.S. Regarding the Article II presidential eligibility clause in the U.S. Constitution, read this essay regarding the legal term of art “natural born Citizen” and basic logic, i.e., trees are plants but not all plants are trees. Natural born Citizens are a subset of “born Citizens (citizens at birth)” but not all “born Citizens (citizens at birth)” are “natural born Citizens”: https://cdrkerchner.wordpress.com/2012/06/20/of-natural-born-citizens-and-citizens-at-birth-and-basic-logic-trees-are-plants-but-not-all-plants-are-trees-natural-born-citizens-nbc-are-citizens-at-birth-cab-but-not-all-cab/ … AND … http://www.art2superpac.com/issues.html
CDR Kerchner (Ret)'s Blog 
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