American by birth? Congratulations! But maybe have your papers ready.

American by birth? Congratulations! But maybe have your papers ready.

Max McCoy
December 16, 2024 8:45 am


In a cabin in the Kaw Valley, a few miles northwest of what is now Lawrence, the first baby boy of white parents was born in Kansas. His name was Napoleon Boone (yes, of the famous Boone family and yes, named after that Napoleon) and he arrived Friday, Aug. 22, 1828.

Napoleon’s entry into the world is notable mostly because, well, it was noted. It’s one of the first recorded births to white parents in the confines of the present state that historians can date. We know because it was written down, that he was the 12th child of Daniel M. and Sarah Boone, was a grandson of the Daniel Boone. One of Napoleon’s brothers remembered in a letter decades later that the cabin was on the north bank of the Kansas River, where the government had by treaty directed their father to instruct members of the Kaw nation in the art and science of agriculture.

....(snip)....

Through no effort of his own, Napoleon was born an American.

Other white children were in the same happy lot.

....(snip)....

I’ve been thinking about Napoleon and the other first white children of Kansas because President-elect Donald “Windrip” Trump promised in an interview last weekend to end birthright citizenship for newborns as part of his mass deportation plan for immigrants.

Trump said he would seek to repeal birthright citizenship by executive order. He is also considering removing immediate family members of the deported, even though some may be U.S. citizens, to keep families together. ...............(more)

https://michiganadvance.com/2024/12/16/american-by-birth-congratulations-but-maybe-have-your-papers-ready/