While researching this I have found that the birthers are missing the fact that Wong Kim Ark decision changed this. They site the translation by Vattel and other supreme court cases prior to the Wong decision. I am not a lawyer but why would the dissenting judges in Wong say:
“I cannot concur in the opinion and judgment of the court in this case.
The proposition is that a child born in this country of parents who were not citizens of the United States, and under the laws of their own country and of the United States could not become such — as was the fact from the beginning of the Government in respect of the class of aliens to which the parents in this instance belonged — is, from the moment of his birth a citizen of the United States by virtue of the first clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, any act of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding.
The argument is, that, although the Constitution prior to that amendment nowhere attempted to define the words “citizens of the United States” and “natural-born citizen” as used therein, yet that it must be interpreted in the light of the English common law rule which made the place of birth the criterion of nationality; that that rule
was in force in all the English colonies upon this continent down to the time of the Declaration of Independence, and in the United States afterwards, and continued to prevail under the Constitution as originally established;
and
that, before the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the adoption of the Constitutional Amendment, all white persons, at least, born within the sovereignty of the United States, whether children of citizens or of foreigners, excepting only children of ambassadors or public ministers of a foreign Government, were native-born citizens of the United States.
The dissenters further state:
Considering the circumstances surrounding the framing of the Constitution, I submit that it is unreasonable to conclude that “natural-born citizen” applied to everybody born within the geographical tract known as the United States, irrespective of circumstances, and that the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country, whether of royal parentage or not, or whether of the Mongolian, Malay or other race, were eligible to the Presidency, while children of our citizens, born abroad, were not.
Again I emphasize that this is the dissenters words. Every law school site I go to says the same thing, anyone born on American soil is considered a natural born citizen.
I don't like it and think that Wong was wrongly decided. However, It is no good to the cause to turn a blind eye to the truth and keep slamming our heads against a brick wall. What we need to do is pass a constitutional amendment defining these terms once and for all.
Sorry for the double post.