[aruanan]

I'm pretty sure what I said was a second class of citizen, but let me check....

Yep, I did.

The two classes were not referring to two classes of citizens, but to two groups of people, the one consisting of those who were undoubtedly citizens who were born to parents both of whom were citizens, and the other those who may or may not be citizens who were born to aliens or foreigners in the United States.

Fine, ya don't want to believe the English there, what's the only other time the word "class" appears in MvH?

The first time is referring to certain persons or classes of persons who became citizens upon the formation of the United States by the adoption of the Constitution. The second time is referring to two groups of people, as mentioned above: the first, natural-born, indisputably citizens; the second, children born to aliens and foreigners in the U.S. whose citizenship was in doubt but whose lack of natural-born citizenship was never in doubt.

[edge919]

The two classes were not referring to two classes of citizens, but to two groups of people, the one consisting of those who were undoubtedly citizens who were born to parents both of whom were citizens, and the other those who may or may not be citizens who were born to aliens or foreigners in the United States.

How do you figure a group of persons for whom you can't say to whom they were born is a class of persons??? This makes no sense. The two classes Waite was referring to was 1) Constitutional natural born citizens and 2) "citizens" as recognized by "some authorities" with no regard to the citizenship of the parents. There is doubt about the second class of citizens, but not the first.

[Red Steel]

Our new Foggy “friend” is into playing word games.

[Ha Ha Thats Very Logical]

The second time is referring to two groups of people, as mentioned above: the first, natural-born, indisputably citizens; the second, children born to aliens and foreigners in the U.S. whose citizenship was in doubt but whose lack of natural-born citizenship was never in doubt.

So those are two non-overlapping groups, right? If so, why did Waite write, "Some authorities go further"? That strongly suggests that this sentence is going to somehow broaden the definition just stated. What are the two qualities of that definition (said to be of "natives, or natural-born citizens")? (1) "born in a country" and (2) "of parents who were its citizens." What are the qualities of the "further" class? (1) "born within the jurisdiction" and (2) "without reference to the citizenship of their parents." The only difference is the citizenship of the parents. Dropping the parental citizenship requirement is how "some" authorities broaden the definition. But the definition is still that of "natives, or natural-born citizens," not of some new thing that hasn't been mentioned before.

Besides, I have yet to read a cite of any of those "some authorities" who think children born within the jurisdiction are not citizens at all unless their parents were citizens. Do you have any from before, say, 1874?

[Nathanael1]

The two classes were not referring to two classes of citizens, but to two groups of people, the one consisting of those who were undoubtedly citizens who were born to parents both of whom were citizens, and the other those who may or may not be citizens who were born to aliens or foreigners in the United States.

I concur with all but the underscored bit. If Waite had intended "born to aliens or foreigners" he would have written that. But he wrote "born in the jurisdiction without reference to the citizenship of the parents". The only feasible construct of those words is "born in the jurisdiction with no consideration given as to whether their parents were or were not citizens". And that would be inclusive of those born of two citizen parents.

There is just no way to derive two mutually exclusive classes from the words of MvH here.