Oops -
Meaning comment #163:
Perhaps we are talking at cross-purposes here.
Without the grandfather clause, you are correct, none of the framers of the U.S. Constitution could have been natural born U.S. citizens.
Politically speaking,the country (the colonies) existed before the Constitution was adopted as part of the British empire. They were the framers were subjects of the crown. One could say they were all “natural born” British subjects. With 47 of the 55 framers of the Constitution were born in the colonies themselves.
For example: Augustine Washington, father of George Washington, was born in 1694 in Westmoreland, Virginia. Mary Ball Washington, mother of good, old George, was born in Lancaster County, Virginia, in 1708.
The nation’s first president was, in fact, Constitutionally speaking: a “natural born” U.S. citizen.
But you may be correct in suggesting my prior post was too general when I stated: “...If both of your parents were alive and living in this country, you were a “natural born” citizen”.... I may now have to change that to “If both parents were born in the colonies,”... they would have been U.S. citizens at the time of adoption of the U.S. Constitution(alive or dead), would be a more accurate statement.
ex animo
davidfarrar
163 posted on Friday, June 19, 2009 7:07:40 AM by DavidFarrar (Constitution, 2nd Amendment,)
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George Washington was not a natural born citizen, since his eligibility was determined via the so-called grandfather clause. In other words, he was a citizen at the time of ratification of the Constitution, and met the age and length of residency requirements as well, so he was eligible. That both his parents were born in Virginia themselves didn’t have anything to do with his eligibility under the Constitution, at that time. The only thing that mattered was that Washington was a citizen, at least 35 years old, and resident 14 years.