What did this mean as it regards "natural Born Citizen"?
"Permit me to hint, whether it would be wise and seasonable to provide a strong check to the admission of Foreigners into the administration of our national Government; and to declare expressly that the Commander in Chief of the American army shall not be given to nor devolve on, any but a natural born Citizen. " .....John Jay's letter to George Washington dated 25 July 1787
Article II, Section 1 - No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States. Article 1, Section 3 - No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
Note that there is no requirement that the representative be a natural-born citizen, just a citizen. Therefore, my conclusion is that the Founders feared the possibility of a president with divided allegiances because of their parent’s birthplace.
Both parents must be American Citizens for a candidate to qualify to seek the office of president.
The Constitution contains a requirement to take an oath or affirmation for all other offices, but the oath itself is not specified.
Article VI Clause 3
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
The oath is specified for the President probably because he was also the Commander-in-Chief of the military, and the Framers feared the tyrannical use of standing armies against the citizenry.
-PJ