Presidential Eligibility: Age

In order to be eligible to hold the office of President of the United States, a person must satisfy three eligibility requirements based on age, residency and citizenship.  The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns age and comes from Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:  "… neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office [of President of the United States] who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years…."  The Framers of the Constitution wanted to be sure that anyone elected to the office of President of the United States had reached a maturity of at least thirty-five years of age.

The following words expressed by John Jay show the general feeling of those attending the Constitutional Convention:  "By excluding men under thirty-five … it confines the electors to men of whom the people have had time to form a judgment, and with respect to whom they will not be liable to be deceived by those brilliant appearances of genius and patriotism which, like transient meteors, sometimes mislead as well as dazzle" (as quoted by W. Cleon Skousen in The Making of America - The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, p. 528).

"… The Framers established these qualifications [to be President] in order to increase the chances of electing a person of patriotism judgment, and civic virtue.

"… As Justice Joseph Story has noted, the `character and talent' of a man in the middle age of life is `fully developed,' and he has had the opportunity `for public service and for experience in the public councils."  (See James C. Ho in The Heritage guide to the Constitution, p. 189).

Barack Obama was older than thirty-five, but he still deceived the people with his "brilliant appearances of genius!"  The lame stream media continues to tell us how "brilliant" Obama is.  If he is so brilliant, why is our country in the shape it is today?