Provocative thoughts

[Vexari]

The first and governing maxim in the interpretation of a statute is to discover the meaning of those who made it..

~ James Wilson ~

Source.. Of the Study of Law in the United States, 1790


"Natural Born Citizen"


If we wish to understand the meaning of a term in the Constitution, the most sensible thing to do is to find the exact, written definition. We know "Natural Born Citizen" is a term that comes only from "Law of Nations" and no other source known to the Founders.

The Constitution does not require a "natural born subject" to the King of England, so fishing around there is silly, when the exact definition of "Natural Born Citizen" is available to us and the authors of the Constitution.


The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens..

~ Law of Nations ~


We know for a fact the Founders relied heavily on Vattel, citing him in their own legal writings and even acknowledging their dependence on "Law of Nations" when crafting our nation's founding documents:


I am much obliged by the kind present you have made us of your edition of Vattel. It came to us in good season, when the circumstances of a rising state make it necessary frequently to consult the Law of Nations. Accordingly, that copy which I kept has been continually in the hands of the members of our congress..

~ Benjamin Franklin ~

Source.. In a letter to Charles W.F. Dumas, December 1775


We know that Law of Nations was used in many nations, and that it was a standard textbook in American Universities by 1780, making it common knowledge to the American People long before the Constitution was written.

We know that Chief Justice John Jay, who warned that only a "natural born citizen" should be President, was familiar with the works of Vattel and cited them in his own legal writings:

example

… comprized within two Classes vizt cases of urgent necessity, and cases of convenience—The present case belongs to the latter. Vattel who well understood the Subject, says in the 7th chapter of his 3d Book— That an innocent Passage is due to all Nations with whom a State is at Peace, and that this …

~ Chief Justice John Jay ~ in referring to Vattel


We know that John Jay's concern was 'foreign influence' in the office of President, which would come from a US-born child of a father who is, say, a British Subject, who by English law is also a subject to the King of England. Or, a person born abroad, to US Citizens, who may be a citizen at birth but is also a citizen or subject of another land.


How to avoid those foreign attachments?

By adhering to the written definition of "Natural Born Citizen", that excludes anyone born under foreign jurisdiction or to a foreign parent.

We know that peers of the Founders as well as Constitutional scholars and authors of later times stated correctly the requirements to be a natural born citizen, according to the written definition:


The citizenship of no man could be previous to the declaration of independence, and, as a natural right, belongs to none but those who have been born of citizens since the 4th of July, 1776..

~ David Ramsay ~

Source.. 1789, Dissertation on the nature of citizenship


every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of your Constitution itself, a natural born citizen..

~ Representative John Bingham of Ohio ~

A principal framer of the Fourteenth Amendment


Given that we have the written definition that we know was in the hands of the Founders, given that many earlier authorities echoed the requirements of that definition.....

The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens.. ~ Law of Nations

It's fair to say that today's arguments presenting a wide variety of other, conflicting definitions are... wrong..