This part was not what I was taught years ago, but then people throw this part in because Mccain was not born in the USA. That was my common understanding. You had to be born in the United States, that was so no Britain could be president.
In the Constitution, it states that a President must be either a natural born citizen or “a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution.” The second clause grandfathers in the people of the newly formed country.
My understanding is that McCain was eligible under the Naturalization act of 1790 which made children born to US citizens natural born citizens regardless of whether they were born on US soil or not. Its important to understand that the law specifies that the parents, plural, must be US citizens to guarantee natural born status to their offspring. Therefore there was no need for the Senate in April to pass that resolution of understanding regarding McCain’s status. It also means that in the Denofrio case, McCain’s eligibility is not in jeopardy.