Presidential History

In my last post I discussed the Constitutional requirements a candidate for president must meet. One of the most controversial ones is the need to be native born.

Over the years there has been talk of amending the Constitution to allow naturalized citizens to hold the office, but nothing concrete has come of these discussions.

Historically the case raising the most controversy was that of the twenty-first President Chester Arthur.

Arthur’s family immigrated to Quebec, Canada where they lived for many years. His country of birth is very much in doubt. No birth certificate has ever been produced that proves he was American by birth. His father wanted
Chester to be American. The family did move to Vermont from Quebec. The Arthur family bible which is held by the Library of Congress shows his birthplace as Fairfield, Vermont. This is the only record of his birth. Of course entries in a family bible were made by the parents. I sent an inquiry to the Library of Congress to confirm this and here’s the answer I received,

“The Library of Congress does indeed have the Arthur family Bible (Philadelphia, 1857, LC call number: BS185.1857.P5, Rare Bk. Coll., Bible Coll.). The birth record for the 21st President reads: “Chester Alan Arthur-fifth child & eldest son of William Arthur and Malvina his wife, - born Oct. 5, 1929, at Fairfield, Franklin Co. Vt.”

Many of Arthur’s political opponents argued he wasn’t an American and questioned his place of birth, but none ever mounted a legal challenge. Arthur himself refused to confirm or deny the charges.

Perhaps we’ll never know the entire truth, but it was extremely easy to cross the border in 1829 and accurate birth records weren’t kept either in Canada or in the U.S. at that time. Canada was a British Colony until 1867, so if he was born in Canada in 1829 he would technically be a British citizen, still ineligible to hold either the office of Vice President or President of the
United States.

Many historians believe he was very likely an illegal president, who should not have been allowed to hold the office. At the very least he should have been asked to prove his birth before being nominated in 1880 as his party’s Vice Presidential candidate.

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