What is a Natural Born Citizen of the United States?

The Post Email Newspaper ^ | 12 Oct 2026 | John Greschak

[CDR Kerchner]

The Framers of the United States Constitution specified the following criteria that one must meet in order to be eligible to be President (in Section 1 of Article II): 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. What is meant by the phrase natural born Citizen in this context? Specifically, what attributes must a United States Citizen have in order to be considered natural born? For a synopsis of this essay, see ... continue reading at: https://www.thepostemail.com/2026/10/12/what-is-a-natural-born-citizen-of-the-united-states-by-john-greschak/

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: eligibility; greschak; naturalborncitizen; notmelania; presidential

[CDR Kerchner]

A very comprehensive analysis by John Greschak of the term "natural born Citizen" as it is used in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of our U.S. Constitution, the Presidential Eligibility Clause.

[fruser1]

As I recollect it, the Constitution didn’t not “settle” the question. It ultimately says that Congress will write the laws defining it.

[fwdude]

“...and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,...” is absolutely key.

You cannot be subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. while also being subject to the jurisdiction of another nation NOT the U.S.

[Steven Tyler]

The President must be a natural Born Citizen.
There were zero natural Born Citizens when the Constitution was adopted.
Therefore, the framers and all other Citizens were grandfathered!

[Samurai_Jack]

PLAIN LANGUAGE

without the sophistry that was required to be applied when bronko bomma sneaked into office.

[kawhill]

“What is a Natural Born Citizen of the United States?” I don’t know, my entire lineage has been born here, except for the first who came here from Germany in 1837.

[research99]

If you travel to Japan and steal a wallet, you are subject to their jurisdiction so you can become a citizen there (according to SC Justice Jumanji).

[research99]

Edit: “Ketanji” that is.

[Tallguy]

Legally it’s a disabled category. There’s never been any enabling legislation that can be enforced upon any presidential candidate.

[Kleon]

People tend to overcomplicate this question, but to me the meaning is simply that the individual was born a citizen and didn’t naturalize later on. I don’t think the law supports the idea of a third class of citizen who is not naturalized and isn’t considered a natural born citizen.

[Pete Dovgan]

“Two Citizen parents, and born on Soil”
For those there is no doubt- See US supreme Court.

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-05-02-0251

Mostly, it’s a term from a book. The book that all the founding fathers checked out from the NYC library-or National Library of the time. Vattel-Law of Nations.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/may/20/george-washington-library-book

Washington and John Jay (first head of SCOTUS) knew EXACTLY what was meant by NBC, because it was in Vattel’s book.

[FamiliarFace]

Both of George Washington’s parents were born in Virginia.

[Thud]

A natural born citizen is someone born in the US who was not made via immaculate conception.

[CDR Kerchner]

There were young people who were a “natural born Citizen”, i.e., the children of the Original Citizens born in the new United States when the Constitution was adopted. But, there were zero “natural born Citizen” persons of sufficient age to serve as President when the Constitution was adopted. Thus the grandfathering clause was necessary. The grandfathering of the Original Citizens as eligible was addressed in the wording within the Presidential Eligibility clause in Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the U.S. Constitution, which is quoted in the excerpt posted and in John Greschak’s full article. See this report on the exact status of the early U.S. Presidents, the first “natural born Citizen” to serve as President, and the eligibility status of all the U.S. Presidents: https://cdrkerchner.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/all-u-s-presidents-birth-locations-eligibility-grandfather-clause-natural-born-citizen-clause-or-seated-by-fraud/

[Pete Dovgan]

“Both of George Washington’s parents were born in Virginia.”

NBC didn’t apply for those born before 1790, running for POTUS. They put in an exception because they were all born British.

[bankwalker]

where do anchor babies fit in?

[one guy in new jersey]

Natural Born Citizen is a term set forth in the U.S. Constitution.

As such, its definition is not subject to change based on ordinary laws passed by Congress.

Does this change your perspective?

[CDR Kerchner]

[Political Junkie Too]

At the time of the Wong Kim Ark ruling, Vattel's Law of Nations were the operative concepts of the time and Black's Law Dictionary's "domicile of origin" controlled the newborn's allegience in the United States.

Vattel treated what we now call domicile under the term "Settlement". From Vattel (relying on AI research):

Vattel's §218: Settlement Defined

Vattel defines settlement in Book I, Chapter XIX as:

"Settlement is a fixed residence in any place, with an intention of always staying there. A man does not, then, establish his settlement in any place, unless he makes sufficiently known his intention of fixing there, either tacitly or by an express declaration. However… a person who stops at a place upon business, even though he stay a long time, has only a simple habitation there, but has no settlement. Thus, the envoy of a foreign prince has not his settlement at the court where he resides."

Vattel's §218: Natural vs. Acquired Settlement

Vattel then draws the same distinction Black's would later formalize as "domicile of origin" versus "domicile of choice":

"The natural, or original settlement, is that which we acquire by birth, in the place where our father has his; and we are considered as retaining it, till we have abandoned it, in order to choose another. The acquired settlement (adscititium) is that where we settle by our own choice."

According to Vattel, a child born in the United States to a father whose natural settlement remains in France acquires France as his natural settlement by operation of this rule — regardless of where he was physically born.

Vattel's §219: Vagrants and Statelessness

Vattel then addresses the edge case that proves the principle:

"Vagrants are people who have no settlement. Consequently, those born of vagrant parents have no country, since a man's country is the place where, at the time of his birth, his parents had their settlement."

This is the closest parallel to illegal aliens. They are not "vagrants" in Vattel's sense as they do have a settlement in their home country, but they are in the United States without permission. Vattel's "vagrants" cannot confer citizenship to their newborn who were born in a "simple habitation."

Vattel's §213: Inhabitants vs. Citizens

Vattel also distinguishes categories that map directly onto the Wong Kim Ark framework:

"The inhabitants, as distinguished from citizens, are foreigners, who are permitted to settle and stay in the country. Bound to the society by their residence, they are subject to the laws of the state while they reside in it... The perpetual inhabitants are those who have received the right of perpetual residence. These are a kind of citizens of an inferior order."

And finally, from Vattel's §212...

"In order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country."

Mapping Vattel:

• "Settlement" = "Domicile"
• "Natural Settlement = "Domicile of Origin"
• "Acquired Settlement = "Domicile" via permanent immigration
• "Vagrant" = no "Domicile"
• "Citizen" = born to a "Citizen"
• SCOTUS "Citizen" via Wong = born to a "Domiciled" immigrant

Applying Vattel to the Wong Kim Ark ruling:

• Wong's father had a "Settlement" in China that he abandoned 20 years before Wong was born in San Francisco. The United States became Wong's father's "Acquired Settlement".

• When Wong was born, his "Settlement" that he acquired at birth was the settlement of his father, which was now San Francisco.

• In 1894, Wong returns from a trip to China and is barred from reentering the United States, citing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The Supreme Court ruled that Wong was a citizen based on his domicile and the domicile of his parents.

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-PJ

[MosesKnows]

There were zero natural Born Citizens when the Constitution was adopted.

George Washington was a natural-born citizen.