There is no reference to a candidate’s parents in the constitution.
Bingo. Hence the need to look at what was meant and intended by our framers in the use of "natural born citizen" in the context of non-citizen parents who subsequently became citizens.
There was, alas, a “grandfather” clause that one might assume was included for a reason, wouldn’t you think?
“There is no reference to a candidate’s parents in the constitution.”
I beg to differ. The term Natural Born Citizen, as a matter of language, means someone born of a nation whose parents where it’s citizens. The definition of NBC was well known and understood by those writting the Constitution.
Maybe not, but the reference was clearly toward generally accepted Brittish Common Law.
“There is no reference to a candidate’s parents in the constitution.”
There is. It says “Natural Born Citizen”. The Framers knew that this was what it meant. By using THIS “specific” term, they made that “statement” (not just a reference). In fact, they CHANGED the wording for that specific reason.
http://www.greschak.com/essays/natborn/synopsis.htm
http://birthers.org/misc/logic.htm
http://theobamafile.com/ObamaNaturalBorn.htm