[GilesB]

True enough. But it remains silent on the question of eligibility: Natural born or naturalized?

[MamaTexan]

But it remains silent on the question of eligibility: Natural born or naturalized?

All a naturalization act CAN make is a naturalized citizen.

You have to remember though, these were acts passed to citizenize Americans of the Revolutionary generation, so THESE particular Naturalization acts were NOT a barrier to presidential eligibility.

[MamaTexan]

Okay - double checking and this link has both acts so it's easier to do comparisons.

First, apologies to you both. It looks like the 'father' disclaimer is in both acts, so I pretty much brought up a nonexistent point.

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While the first act of 1790 said:

And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens:

The Act of '95 had no such provision, so apparently it's intent was one strictly that of naturalizing aliens and their children.

So while the 1790 Naturalization Act acknowledged that the Revolutionary generation was eligible to hold the Presidency, the Act of 1795 did not.