Potus Geeks Summer Reruns: Chester Alan Arthur and the First Birthers
Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution requires that, in order to be eligible to hold the office, a president must "be a natural-born citizen of the United States". Long before President Barack Obama was accused by a group of conspiracy theorists, dubbed as "birthers" by the media, of not being born in the United States, a similar allegation was made against another President. That President was accused not of being Kenyan, but of being (gasp!) a Canadian. Chester Alan Arthur, who became President in 1881 upon the death of James Garfield, had his own "birthers" to deal with.
Most historians believe that Chester Alan Arthur was born October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont. (His gravestone gives his year of birth as 1830, but Thomas Reeves, his most prominent biographer, believes that 1829 is the correct year based on his research and the fact that the Arthur family bibles record his birth as being in 1829.) Arthur was a first generation American. His father, William Arthur, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and emigrated to Dunham, in what was then called Lower Canada (now called Quebec) in 1818 or 1819 after graduating from Belfast College. Arthur's mother, Malvina Stone, was born in Vermont, the daughter of George Washington Stone and Judith Stevens. Malvina's family was of primarily English descent, and her grandfather, Uriah Stone, fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Malvina met William while he was teaching at a school in Dunham, just across the border from Vermont, and the two soon married. After their first child, Regina, was born in Dunham, the Arthurs moved to Burlington, Vermont, and later to Waterville, also in Vermont. In Waterville, William joined the Free Will Baptist Church, spending the rest of his life as a minister. He also became a fervent abolitionist, which at times made him unpopular with parts of his congregations. In 1828, the family moved again, to Fairfield, where Chester Alan Arthur was born the following year.
After Chester's birth, the family remained in Fairfield until 1832, when the elder Arthur's profession took them on the road again to several towns in Vermont and upstate New York, finally settling in the Schenectady area. It was because of William Arthur's frequent moves that Arthur's political opponents based their accusation that Chester Arthur was not a native-born citizen of the United States. After Arthur was nominated for Vice President in 1880, his political opponents accused Arthur of being constitutionally ineligible to hold that office.
A New York attorney named Arthur P. Hinman was hired by the Democratic Party to explore rumors of Arthur's foreign birth. Hinman initially alleged that Arthur was born in Ireland and did not come to the United States until he was fourteen years old, which would make him ineligible for the Vice Presidency under the United States Constitution's natural-born citizen clause. When that story failed to be believed, Hinman next tried to promote the theory that Arthur was born in Canada, but this claim also failed to gain any support. Following is a story which appeared in the New York Times on December 22, 1880:
MATERIAL FOR A DEMOCRATIC LIE
ST. ALBANS, Vt., Dec. 21.-A stranger arrived here a few days ago, and registered at the American House as A. P. Hinman, of New-York. Since then he has been very busy in the adjoining town of Fairfield, ostensibly collecting materials for a biography of Vice-President-elect Arthur. He has privately stated to leading Democratic citizens, however, that he is employed by the Democratic National Committee to obtain evidence to show that Gen. Arthur is an unnaturalized foreigner. He claims to have discovered that Gen. Arthur was born in Canada, instead of Fairfield; that his name is Chester Allen instead of Chester Abell [sic]; that he was 50 years old in July instead of October, as has been stated, and generally that he is an alien and ineligible to the office of Vice-President.
Hinman wrote a book containing all of his theories. Published in 1884, it was called How a British Subject Became President of the United States. (It's out of print now, but I somehow managed to download a copy from a website that I can't seem to find any more.) In the book, Hinman appendixes copies of his correspondence searching for Arthur's birth certificate, a record of which he was unable to locate, either in New Hampshire or in Quebec. In a letter to Hinman from J. H. Corey of Bedford, Quebec, dated February 5, 1881, the alleged author of the letter writes:
I'm not precisely sure how Arthur was able to disprove the claims of the birthers of his day. Holding a press conference and showing his long form birth certificate wasn't an option for him because no such records appear to exist. To this day rumors persist that Arthur was born in Canada. An example of a recent rehashing of these rumors can be found in this article at Boston.com But the most knowledgeable Arthur scholar, biographer Thomas Reeves, in convinced that Arthur was born a Vermonter, and that Hinman's "research" was really just a part of the dirty politics that were commonplace at the time. Still, when Arthur was near death, he ordered most of his public an private papers burned. Was this something that he wanted to conceal? It will continue to be one of history's mysteries.
Most historians believe that Chester Alan Arthur was born October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont. (His gravestone gives his year of birth as 1830, but Thomas Reeves, his most prominent biographer, believes that 1829 is the correct year based on his research and the fact that the Arthur family bibles record his birth as being in 1829.) Arthur was a first generation American. His father, William Arthur, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and emigrated to Dunham, in what was then called Lower Canada (now called Quebec) in 1818 or 1819 after graduating from Belfast College. Arthur's mother, Malvina Stone, was born in Vermont, the daughter of George Washington Stone and Judith Stevens. Malvina's family was of primarily English descent, and her grandfather, Uriah Stone, fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Malvina met William while he was teaching at a school in Dunham, just across the border from Vermont, and the two soon married. After their first child, Regina, was born in Dunham, the Arthurs moved to Burlington, Vermont, and later to Waterville, also in Vermont. In Waterville, William joined the Free Will Baptist Church, spending the rest of his life as a minister. He also became a fervent abolitionist, which at times made him unpopular with parts of his congregations. In 1828, the family moved again, to Fairfield, where Chester Alan Arthur was born the following year.
After Chester's birth, the family remained in Fairfield until 1832, when the elder Arthur's profession took them on the road again to several towns in Vermont and upstate New York, finally settling in the Schenectady area. It was because of William Arthur's frequent moves that Arthur's political opponents based their accusation that Chester Arthur was not a native-born citizen of the United States. After Arthur was nominated for Vice President in 1880, his political opponents accused Arthur of being constitutionally ineligible to hold that office.
A New York attorney named Arthur P. Hinman was hired by the Democratic Party to explore rumors of Arthur's foreign birth. Hinman initially alleged that Arthur was born in Ireland and did not come to the United States until he was fourteen years old, which would make him ineligible for the Vice Presidency under the United States Constitution's natural-born citizen clause. When that story failed to be believed, Hinman next tried to promote the theory that Arthur was born in Canada, but this claim also failed to gain any support. Following is a story which appeared in the New York Times on December 22, 1880:
MATERIAL FOR A DEMOCRATIC LIE
ST. ALBANS, Vt., Dec. 21.-A stranger arrived here a few days ago, and registered at the American House as A. P. Hinman, of New-York. Since then he has been very busy in the adjoining town of Fairfield, ostensibly collecting materials for a biography of Vice-President-elect Arthur. He has privately stated to leading Democratic citizens, however, that he is employed by the Democratic National Committee to obtain evidence to show that Gen. Arthur is an unnaturalized foreigner. He claims to have discovered that Gen. Arthur was born in Canada, instead of Fairfield; that his name is Chester Allen instead of Chester Abell [sic]; that he was 50 years old in July instead of October, as has been stated, and generally that he is an alien and ineligible to the office of Vice-President.
Hinman wrote a book containing all of his theories. Published in 1884, it was called How a British Subject Became President of the United States. (It's out of print now, but I somehow managed to download a copy from a website that I can't seem to find any more.) In the book, Hinman appendixes copies of his correspondence searching for Arthur's birth certificate, a record of which he was unable to locate, either in New Hampshire or in Quebec. In a letter to Hinman from J. H. Corey of Bedford, Quebec, dated February 5, 1881, the alleged author of the letter writes:
I'm not precisely sure how Arthur was able to disprove the claims of the birthers of his day. Holding a press conference and showing his long form birth certificate wasn't an option for him because no such records appear to exist. To this day rumors persist that Arthur was born in Canada. An example of a recent rehashing of these rumors can be found in this article at Boston.com But the most knowledgeable Arthur scholar, biographer Thomas Reeves, in convinced that Arthur was born a Vermonter, and that Hinman's "research" was really just a part of the dirty politics that were commonplace at the time. Still, when Arthur was near death, he ordered most of his public an private papers burned. Was this something that he wanted to conceal? It will continue to be one of history's mysteries.