Can a President Be Born Abroad?

Some are asking whether Senator John McCain—born in the Panama Canal Zone, the son of a Navy officer—meets the "natural-born citizen" requirement to be president.

Quickly recognizing confusion over the evolving nature of citizenship, the First Congress in 1790 passed a measure that did define children of citizens “born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States to be natural born.” But that law is still seen as potentially unconstitutional and was overtaken by subsequent legislation that omitted the “natural-born” phrase.

Mr. McCain’s citizenship was established by statutes covering the offspring of Americans abroad and laws specific to the Canal Zone as Congress realized that Americans would be living and working in the area for extended periods. But whether he qualifies as natural-born has been a topic of Internet buzz for months, with some declaring him ineligible while others assert that he meets all the basic constitutional qualifications — a natural-born citizen at least 35 years of age with 14 years of residence. [Link]

What's Sicilian for 'Carpetbagger'?

Frank Cannonito, a retired math professor from California, is running for a city council seat in Sicily, even though he's never been there.

Cannonito's father, who was from Palermo, immigrated to the United States in 1910, and through that link his son holds dual U.S. and Italian citizenship. There's no residency requirement for him to run in Palermo, and he acknowledges the ticket is unlikely to win any seats. [Link]

Mexican Mennonite Marriage Muddle

Hundreds of Mennonites now living in Canada may lose their Canadian citizenship because their ancestors married in Mexico. Some 7,000 of the church members moved to Mexico and Paraguay in the 1920s, and many have returned to Canada in the years since.

Many of them married while living in Mexico, and that's what is causing the problem now. They were married by the church, and Mexico doesn't recognize church marriages as being legal.

That means their children were born out of wedlock, and they — along with their grandchildren and even great-grandchildren — are not eligible to be Canadian citizens. [Link]

The British Are a Testy Bunch

From The Boston (Mass.) Globe:

Effort ties citizenship to 'Britishness'

Standards raised for immigrants

By Farah Stockman, Globe Staff | August 18, 2005

LONDON -- Ali Kasim, a PhD student from Iraq, hardly remembers the letter that came in the mail three years ago, informing him that he had become a British citizen.

But his wife will remember the moment she became British: At 3:25 p.m. on Friday, she stood at the town hall, swore allegiance in halting English to the Queen and all her heirs, and received a commemorative medal.

[snip]

In November, the government will require all new citizens to pass a "Britishness test" demonstrating a minimum standard of English and knowledge of government practices, a move that officials say is also unprecedented in British history.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Other requirements of the Britishness test:

1. Expressing nostalgia for British colonial rule of one's native country.
2. Deriding the French while secretly coveting their food.
3. Viewing a photograph of Camilla Parker Bowles without wincing.
4. Singing "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" in full wardrobe.

A Gold Mine near Boston

Walter V. Hickey—archives specialist with the National Archives and Records Administration–Northeast Region (Boston)—writes in "A Gold Mine Of Naturalization Records In New England" (at NARA's Prologue, Fall 2004) about an unusual set of naturalization records held at the NARA branch in Waltham, Mass. These are "photostatic copies, called 'dexigraphs,' made in the 1930s, of naturalization proceedings in all courts—federal, state, county, and local—in five of the New England states (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) between 1790 and September 26, 1906."

Early American naturalizations are among the most difficult public records to locate, largely because so many courts could claim jurisdiction. Some court records have never been microfilmed, and those which have are sometimes poorly indexed.

These NARA copies provide a one-stop index of New England naturalizations. The researcher, upon finding a relative in the dexigraphs, can then track down in the relevant court (or state archives) the immigrant's declaration of intention and original petition for citizenship—often invaluable sources of information on his origins. It is not unusual for these records to include the place (and sometimes the date) of birth, place and date of arrival, and recent places of residence of the petitioner.¹

Hickey's article casts fresh light on this important research tool, and gives information on obtaining dexigraph copies from the Waltham branch. Similar indexes are available for the courts of New York and Illinois.

Note:
¹Before relying on these records, see Carmen J. Finley's "Original Naturalization Records: A Reliable Source for Birth Dates?" National Genealogical Society Quarterly 91:60 (Mar. 2003). The article cites a study conducted in Sonoma County, California, which found a 1.3% error rate in birth dates recorded in multiple files—discrepancies ranging from a few days to 23 years (the latter probably due to a clerical error). As this error rate is only for records in which a birth date is repeated, the actual error rate in reported birth dates is probably much higher. (Anecdotal evidence supports this conclusion.)

More Reading:

• Researching Naturalization Records—Heritage Quest Magazine Online
• NARA— Naturalization Records