Hey,
Whenever someone mentions having an expertise in the use of commas, I ask them to read the eligibility clause of the US Constitution and to tell me, using their mastery, who is actually eligible to be president?
"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."
A 14 year U.S. Resident, aged 35, naturally born, or Citizen of U.S., living at the time the Constitution was adopted.
Fantastic. Now, who was our last eligible president elected to the office?
I suppose it’d have to be William Harrison, born in 1773. He died after 31 days in office, and was replaced by John Tyler, born in 1790; thus invalidating him from the Office of President.
It’s also strange that they used the proper nouns: Person, Adoption, Age, Years, and Resident. This indicates an alternative meaning to the common usage, and should be defined. “Years a Resident” is also likely a colorable term.
The Articles of Confederation stated, in Article I, “the stile of this confederacy shall be ‘The United States of America.’” The stile “United States of America” was created by King George III, in the Treaty of Paris, when he implied a principality, and constantly referenced “the said United States” as though it’s been clearly defined previously. It goes on to separate “the said United States, viz., New Hampshire...” which, at first glance, seems to identify the 13 colonies as the said United States; however the commas before and after viz. seem to separate the said United States from the 13 colonies, as though it’s a 14th entity.
We’d need to start by clearly defining “United States.” It is usually defined as the District of Columbia, the insular possessions, and territories. They love to use the term “several States,” but rarely qualify it. When you do find State defined: it is almost always Puerto Rico, the territories, and/or the possessions; and in some cases, the District of Columbia.
Dude, I asked you to read 1 fuckin ' paragraph and answer a question based on that paragraph.
No need to get all libertarian. Read the paragraph, with the proper usage of commas, and tell me who is eligible to be president.
You gotta know how to use commas to get it right.
Exactly. Its used as pauses to highlight a point.
Which, apparently, went right past you.
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