Republicans and Donald Trump have misunderstood the meaning of Jacob M. Howard's comment regarding the 14th amendment.
Apparently Mr. Howard stated... This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the government of the United States, but will include every other class of person. end quote.
The commas after the word foreigners, and then after the word aliens, were meant to connect the two terms to what follows immediately thereafter, the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the government of the United States.
What Mr. Jacob Howard was saying was foreign dignitaries who are in the United States and who have offspring born in the U.S. do not have to worry about their children being U.S. citizens. No different than if U.S. dignitaries in other countries bore their children in another country would not have to worry about their children being called citizens of the country they were born in.
The U.S. was so anxious to have both Naturalized and Natural born citizens back then that Mr. Howard then concludes by stating "but will include every other class of persons". end quote.
In other words, the only people who are born on U.S. soil who WILL NOT be considered U.S. citizens are those who are the offspring of foreign political dignitaries, and this was done out of a quid pro quo because obviously American officials in foreign countries who have offspring in that country would most likely not want their kids to not be U.S. citizens.
Wasn't John McCain born on a military base outside of the U.S., I think it was Panama? McCain was still considered a U.S. Natural Born citizen even though he was born outside of the United States and in a foreign country. The same courtesy, but in reverse, is being offered to foreign dignitaries who reside in the U.S. when their offspring are born.
Please consider signing the Debt Neutrality Petition by clicking here.
