Michele Bachmann no longer wants to be Swiss, the Minnesota congresswoman announced Thursday, and has requested the Swiss government drop her dual citizenship.

Bachmann's spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday that she had recently been granted dual citizenship, for which she had been eligible since her 1978 marriage, but "recently some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family."

But after the news had been public for less than 48 hours, she issued a Thursday afternoon follow-up: "Today I sent a letter to the Swiss Consulate requesting withdrawal of my dual Swiss citizenship."

"I took this action because I want to make it perfectly clear: I was born in America and I am a proud American citizen," Bachmann said in a statement. "I am, and always have been, 100 percent committed to our United States Constitution and the United States of America. As the daughter of an Air Force veteran, stepdaughter of an Army veteran and sister of a Navy veteran, I am proud of my allegiance to the greatest nation the world has ever known."

"Natural born" citizenship is one of the requirements for the presidency, an office Bachmann sought earlier this year.

Bachmann is of Norwegian ancestry and her husband is Swiss.

Millions of Americans have dual citizenship, and the U.S. State Department says dual nationals "owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country" and "are required to obey the laws of both countries."