[rxsid]

"Natives or indigenous is what it meant.

Only later, after the writing of the Constitution, was it ‘translated’ as “natural born citizen”.

In 1787 Natural and Native were synonymous.

The royal dictionary, french and english, and english and french
Author: A. Boyer
Publisher: T. Osborne, 1764
Original from Ghent University

From: http://books.google.com/books?id=k7c_AAAAcAAJ

 

The royal dictionary English and French and French and English: extracted from the writings of the best authors in both languages
Author: Abel Boyer
Publisher: printed by John Mary Bruyset, 1768
Original from the Complutense University of Madrid

From: http://books.google.com/books?id=6POB0yOidU4C

 

The new royal and universal English dictionary ...: To which is prefixed, a grammar of the English language, Volume 2
Author: J. Johnson
Publisher: Millard, 1763
Original from Columbia University

From: http://books.google.com/books?id=OmtHAAAAYAAJ

 

A dictionary of the English language. Abstracted from the folio ed., by the author. To which is prefixed, an English grammar. To this ed. are added, a history of the English language
Author: Samuel Johnson
Edition: 3
Published: 1768
Original from: Oxford University

From: http://books.google.com/books?id=bXsCAAAAQAAJ

 

The new spelling dictionary
Author: John Entick
Published: 1780
Original from: University of Lausanne

From: http://books.google.com/books?id=xZUPAAAAQAAJ

[Danae]

It is so sexy when you post like that... ;)

[Las Vegas Ron]

Good post, funny how you didn’t get a reply.

[devattel]

rxsid said:

In 1787 Natural and Native were synonymous.

Thank you for these citations. Excellent ground work.

There is a reference to Natural Born Citizen in the most notable translations of Cicero's A Proposal. It was and still is the most common translation of Cicero's letters. All of the founding fathers were familiar with Cicero's works; they are undoubtedly classics. This masterpiece by Henry Eelbeck in 1720 revealed:



This is proof positive the phrase existed well before the framers ever penned it into the Constitution.



There is additional evidence the phrase existed in English and was common knowledge as far back as the early 1600's. Locating sources has been somewhat difficult. However, 19th century historical literature has shown that it does indeed exist.