They did it to exclude naturalized citizens. They were thinking of the situation, which was not uncommon in those days (think of William and Mary), of the royalty from one country coming to another country to rule.
They did it to exclude naturalized citizens. They were thinking of the situation, which was not uncommon in those days (think of William and Mary), of the royalty from one country coming to another country to rule.
The Founding Fathers (it has been said before) lived in a world where journeys between countries could be measured in months, not hours. Once in a country there was strong incentive to put down roots. We live today in a world where we can set foot in several different countries across the globe in the space of a week.
I believe in the days of the Founders, a "natural born citizen" was a child of citizens of a country, born in the country, because these were the people who had committed to settling in a land that took some effort to travel to.
As an aside, how many stories in science fiction where travel between countries or even planets could be instantaneous, was the topic of citizenship of a country (or planet, or galaxy) ever explored? It's taking the difference in travel logistics between our time and the Founders' time and ratcheting it up a bit.