More’s the pity they didn’t spell it out for those who followed.
And, the English language is my specialty...
“More’s the pity they didn’t spell it out for those who followed.”
The Founders include many well read and educated men, however they did not forsee the need to gild the lily for those 200 years later. Fortunately the US Supreme Court has stepped up to the plate and determined the issue less than 100 years from the founding, and provided an understanding of NBC in numerious “citizenship cases, “ Minor v Happersett” being only one of many.
And, the English language is my specialty...
They didn't spell out "The right to keep and bear arms" either, and it only took 200+ years before a court finally understood it correctly. The constitution wasn't intended to be a dictionary. They used terms which were understood to them at the time. The meaning to us can be ascertained by looking at where the founders got their terms.
This is what James Madison said about your above comment.
What could the Convention have done? If they had in general terms declared the Common law to be in force, they would have broken in upon the legal Code of every State in the most material points: they wd. have done more, they would have brought over from G.B. a thousand heterogeneous & antirepublican doctrines, and even the ecclesiastical Hierarchy itself, for that is a part of the Common law. If they had undertaken a discrimination, they must have formed a digest of laws, instead of a Constitution.”
James Madison Letter to Geo Washington October 18, 1787