John McCain is Eligible to Be President Despite Being Born in the Panama Canal Zone

John McCain, who is running for President of the United States, was born in the Panama Canal Zone on August 29, 1936. But it's been wrongly surmised by some that since the Panama Canal Zone wasn't a part of the United States in 1936, that John McCain is ineligible to be President, given the wording of the Constitution. John McCain is eligible to be President of the United States despite being born in the Panama Canal Zone. This article will shed light on why this is so!

This issue about McCain has already been hashed out before. He did run for president in 2000, unsuccessfully, so the potential controversy was settled years ago, otherwise why would've John McCain run back in 2000 had be been ineligible? An article written on July 9, 1998, by Ken Rudin, and appearing at WashingtonPost.com, states simply why the Republican contender can run for President. You see, the First Congress, on March 26, 1790, approved an act which states, "The children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens of the United States". The above article also states that his parents were both natural-born citizens of America.

It's then easy to conclude that it doesn't matter where McCain was born outside of the United States (or under what relationship the birthplace was to America at the time, as the Panama Canal Zone was being leased to America in 1936). The Republican candidate could've been born in Panama, on the moon, Mars, or the Andromeda Galaxy - it's irrelevant since his parents being born in America makes him "natural-born".