Should Presidents Be able To Spot Three Move Forced Checkmates?

[Zeno]

Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution stipulates the qualifications for the U.S. 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.


Also there is this statement from Article VI:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.

So no religious test can be given but perhaps an admendment can be made to allow for intelligence tests for elected offices of public trust.


However much your OP may have generated some interesting discussion, in terms of pratical or realistic application to this crazy American Democracy we live in, it is plainly silly.

China for millennia had testing qualifications for many public offices (appointed by the emperor or provincial officials), especially ones of importance and influence. This was an outgrowth of Confucianism, which is not, by the way, a religion - not in any strict sense anyway. The collapse of this testing system after 1911 exacerbated the Chaos that inflicted China in the 1920-1930's.

-Zeno