Editor's note: Alexander Hamilton was eligible to be president because he was a citizen at the time of the Articles of Confederation. Based on a brief Internet search, there has been confusion on this point. His West Indies background would have been a hindrance if he chose to run. Still, there was an error and the copy has been changed. We strongly regret the error.
Ted Cruz is running for president of the United States. Cruz was born in Calgary in Alberta in Canada and lived there for the first 4 years of his life before moving with his family to the United States.
Being born in Canada meant Cruz became a Canadian citizen at birth. Cruz claimed that he did not know he was a Canadian citizen until recently (i.e., when he was contemplating running for president), even though he went to Harvard Law School and has argued before the Supreme Court.
Cruz did go through the process of renouncing his Canadian citizenship. But what we don't know is Ted Cruz's Cuban citizenship status.
This passage is from the U.S. Embassy in Havana Web site:
The Government of Cuba does not recognize the U.S. nationality of U.S. citizens who are Cuban-born or are the children of Cuban parents. These individuals will be treated solely as Cuban citizens and may be subject to a range of restrictions and obligations, including military service. The Cuban government may require U.S. citizens, whom the Government of Cuba considers to be Cuban, to enter and depart Cuba using a Cuban passport. Using a Cuban passport for this purpose does not jeopardize one's U.S. citizenship; however, such persons must use their U.S. passports to enter and depart the United States. There have been cases of Cuban-American dual nationals being forced by the Cuban government to surrender their U.S. passports.
The argument over Cruz's Canadian status ignores the fact that Cruz is claiming he is an American citizen by the fact that one of his parents is American, though he was born in a foreign country. Well, that is also true for Cuba.
So Cruz became a citizen of the United States, Canada, and Cuba upon birth. But we haven't heard a word about Ted Cruz's Cuban citizenship.
Canadian-born Ted Cruz to run for U.S. president
Ted Cruz is no longer a Canadian citizen
Ted Cruz gets about 8 months to learn something about Canada
Ted Cruz, Dan Senor are prominent in GOP circles ... with Canadian ties
And what does all of this have to do with the first Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, Alexander Hamilton?
Hamilton, the musical, is renewing interest into one of the great Founding Fathers. Alexander Hamilton did some amazing things: first Secretary of Treasury who established a national bank, wrote the majority of the Federalist Papers, created the Coast Guard, and founded the New York Post (pre Rupert Murdoch). However, Hamilton never ran for president of the United States. Hamilton's West Indies birth would have been a campaign issue.
There was doubt about Chester A. Arthur as to whether he was Vermont or Quebec born.
The answer likely has to do with nationality and birthplace. Ted Cruz has 3 nationalities and only gave up one of them recently and that was only because he ran for president.
With the "Obama birthers," they were upset over the idea that a person born overseas to an American mother and a foreign father could be president of the United States. Many of those same people would support Ted Cruz as president, even if Cruz really is in that scenario. Donald Trump got a lot of political mileage in 2011 claiming this about Barack Obama without any proof. Now with plenty of proof, Trump is sounding the "birther" siren again, but this time it's for real.
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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who is running for president, thought Cruz was qualified for a different post.
"I think without question he is qualified to make the cut, you know, to be prime minister of Canada, absolutely without question, he is qualified and he meets the qualifications."
Actually, Cruz is no longer eligible to be the prime minister of Canada since Cruz renounced his Canadian citizenship. Canada doesn't require its prime ministers to be born in Canada but does require citizenship. John Turner served as prime minister in 1984, taking the baton from Pierre Trudeau. Turner was born in England.
We realize Sen. Paul was making a joke but Canada's requirements are much more clear than its southern neighbour.
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The temptation is to bring the examples of John McCain and Barry Goldwater into the mix. McCain was born on a military base in a U.S. territory. Goldwater was born in Arizona before becoming a state. The only recent example that has a parallel is the George Romney campaign in 1968.
Romney was born in Mexico to U.S. parents. While Romney did well early in the campaign, the campaign faltered before there was a significant push to question his eligibility.
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"It would be quite ironic if after 7 or 8 years of drama around the President's birth certificate, if Republican primary voters were to choose Senator Cruz as their nominee," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said to reporters. "Somebody who actually wasn't born in the United States and only 18 months ago renounced his Canadian citizenship."
We can all agree that this was extremely ironic, one of the few things everyone of different political stripes can have in common.
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