You do realize then that (according to your definition) that Martin Van Buren would have been ineligible, right? After all, his parents were both British subjects and were not "natural citizens." Chester A. Arthur's dad was born in Ireland. Woodrow Wilson's mother was born in England.
Do you REALLY think that the founding fathers had this in mind: A GI, stationed overseas in WW II, meets a gal in England, falls in love and moves back to the states, has a boy and that boy can never be president? Or for that matter...mom and dad are on a PCS to Kadina and have a kid and because that kid was born there, he can never be president?
No. False.
Was Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore and Pierce eligible? Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 only governs who can be president...not who their parents can be and it doesn't make all people of the colonies natural born...just citizens. So, by this definition, every president on the list was ineligible. So, by my count, we've had EIGHT presidents who were president who did not fit the definition. EIGHT. Funny how none of the founding fathers (who knew the definition better than you or I) got their hair in a lather about it.
I think we crossed wires somewhere. Parents must be citizens at the time of child’s birth to make the child a NBC. Where the parents are born is irrelevant, only their citizenship at time of birth matters.
For instance if a couple has a child and immigrates to the US all can become citizens. If after this couple become citizens they have another child that child would be a NBC but the older sibling would not.
If you read the whole sentence, I would like to think you will be able to see how men a lot smarter than us solved that problem. I think it would cover all you mentioned.
4. 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;
I do agree it shouldn’t matter where you are born as long as both parents are citizens.
Federal naturalization laws (1790, 1795).
United States Congress, “An act to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization” (March 26, 1790).
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That any Alien being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof on application to any common law Court of record in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such Court that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law to support the Constitution of the United States, which Oath or Affirmation such Court shall administer, and the Clerk of such Court shall record such Application, and the proceedings thereon; and thereupon such person shall be considered as a Citizen of the United States. And the children of such person so naturalized, dwelling within the United States, being under the age of twenty one years at the time of such naturalization, shall also be considered as citizens of the United States.
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:
Provided, that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States: Provided also, that no person heretofore proscribed by any States, shall be admitted a citizen as aforesaid, except by an Act of the Legislature of the State in which such person was proscribed.
I originally was in the camp that Obama’s father was British and that would make him ineligible. I never cared where he was born. I was more interested as to who the father is. When all was said and done, we never got a real birth certificate. If I could afford it, I would pay someone to get a DNA sample. BVB