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The original intent of the “natural born” requirement for presidents was so that they would not have divided allegiances.

Since the same Founders declared a person born overseas to US citizen parents to be a natural born citizen (1790), then they must have decided that divided allegiance was more than a matter of location of birth or the citizenship laws of any particular country.

In fact, there are countries in the world which do not give automatic citizenship to those born in their country. (Which I actually agree with and wish our country would copy.)

So, you're telling me that if Ted Cruz had been born in Australia, which doesn't give automatic citizenship, that he would be just fine with you.

CORRECTION IN ADDRESSEE: Apologies to both Triple and C. Edmund.

The original intent of the “natural born” requirement for presidents was so that they would not have divided allegiances.

In fact, there are countries in the world which do not give automatic citizenship to those born in their country. (Which I actually agree with and wish our country would copy.)

So, you’re telling me that if Ted Cruz had been born in Australia, which doesn’t give automatic citizenship, that he would be just fine with you.

One problem is that there are those of us who believe in Original Intent and those who are strict literalists. The ORIGINAL INTENT of the Constitution was to prohibit people who had divided loyalty from attaining the highest office in the nation. That is why they wanted only those who were citizens of the United States by virtue of their birth to be president. They also gave Congress the power to define who is or who is not a citizen at the time of birth and there have been a number of laws that were instituted defining those who are citizens at birth since 1789. There is no literal definition of "Natural Born Citizen", however there are only two kinds of Citizens now and there were only two kinds in 1789. Those who are Citizens at Birth and those who become Citizens after birth through naturalization laws.

If the laws in effect at the time of your birth make you a citizen of the United States, then you are a Natural Born Citizen. Unfortunately the Congress has seen fit to make every child born in the United States an automatic Citizen of the United States and that makes a lot of people with no loyalty at all to the United States Citizens at birth.

At any rate, there is no legal basis for declaring that Ted Cruz is not a Natural Born Citizen. The only ones who claim otherwise are those who apparently have some psychic connection to the founders and are able to read their minds 200 years after they died.

This is a distraction and too many FREEPERS are joining in the effort to undermine Ted Cruz based on some ridiculous notion that there are three kinds of Citizens and that somehow you can be a citizen at birth without becoming a "Natural Born Citizen". There is no basis in history for any such notion. It is as illogical an argument as anyone can possibly think up. Those who promulgate this argument over and over are doing nothing but buying into the effort to destroy Ted Cruz my any means necessary. For that reason, those who continue to post this kind of nonsense have no place at Free Republic. They can spew their nonsense elsewhere.