Since the obfuscators seem to be citing Wong Ark on this thread, perhaps they should consider this part:
The following passage is a quote from Minor v. Happersett as quoted by Justice Gray in Wong Kim Ark:
” ‘At common law, with the nomenclature of which the framers of the constitution were familiar, it was never doubted that all children born in a country, of parents who were its citizens, became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further, and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction, without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case, it is not necessary to solve these doubts. It is sufficient, for everything we have now to consider, that all children, born of citizen parents within the jurisdiction, are themselves citizens.’ Minor v. Happersett (1874) 21 Wall. 162, 166-168.”
The obfuscators (birthers) have been posting this passage for months. It has been considered, many times.
The passage does not create an exclusive definition of "natural born citizen". It defines one category which is with doubt natural born, then says there are others about which there have been doubts. But it never says those doubts are justified or valid so it is clearly contemplating another group of people as natural born. Before deciding the question it moves on and says it isn't important for this case and bails on the subject. End result: nothing.
But if you read the entire decision, not just this passage from Justice Gray, you'll find that the decision does clearly settle the issue and does so in a way the birthers don't like.
What the trolls do is cite the beginning of the U.S. vs Wong Kim Ark case summary. There is more to the case than the merely the Judge's discussions of English Common Law at the beginning of the summary. The Judge goes on to expound more as the case summary concludes with the following comments:
"It was contended by one of the learned counsel for the United States that the rule of the Roman law, by which the citizenship of the child followed that of the parent, was the true rule of international law as now recognized in most civilized countries, and had superseded the rule of the common law, depending on birth within the realm, originally founded on feudal considerations."
"The later modifications of the rule in Europe rest upon the constitutions, laws, or ordinances of the various countries, and have no important bearing upon the interpretation and effect of the constitution of the United States."
"By the constitution of the United States, congress was empowered 'to establish an uniform rule of naturalization.' In the exercise of this power, congress, by successive acts, beginning with the act entitled 'An act to establish an uniform rule of naturalization,' passed at the second session of the first congress under the constitution, has made provision for the admission to citizenship of three principal classes of persons: First. Aliens, having resided for a certain time 'within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States,' and naturalized individually by proceedings in a court of record. Second. Children of persons [plural] so naturalized, 'dwelling within the United States, and being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of such naturalization.' Third. Foreign-born children of American citizens [plural] , coming within the definitions prescribd by congress. Acts March 26, 1790, c. 3 (1 Stat. 103); January 26, 1795, c. 20 (Id. 414); June 18, 1798, c. 54 (Id. 566); April 14, 1802, c. 28 (2 Stat. 153); March 26, 1804, c. 47 (Id. 292); February 10, 1855, c. 71 (10 Stat. 604); Rev. St. §§ 2165, 2172, 1993."
"In the act of 1790, the provision as to foreign-born children of American citizens [plural] was as follows: '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.' 1 Stat. 104. In 1795, this was re-enacted, in the same words, except in substituting, for the words 'beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States,' the words, 'out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States.' Id. 415."
"In 1802, all former acts were repealed, and the provisions concerning children of citizens were re-enacted in this form: 'The children of persons [plural] duly naturalized under any of the laws of the United States, or who, previous to the passing of any law on that subject by the government of the United States, may have become citizens of any one of the said states under the laws thereof, being under the age of twenty-one years at the time of their parents [plural] being so naturalized or admitted to the rights of citizenship, shall, if dwelling in the United States, be considered as citizens of the United States; and the children of persons who now are, or have been citizens of the United States shall, though born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, be considered as citizens of the United States: provided, that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never resided within the United States.' Act April 14, 1802, c. 28, § 4 (2 Stat. 155)."
"The civil rights act, passed at the first session of the Thirty-Ninth congress, began by enacting that 'all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States;"
"….all children born in a country, of parents who were its citizens, became themselves, upon their birth, citizens also. These were natives or natural-born citizens, as distinguished from aliens or foreigners. Some authorities go further, and include as citizens children born within the jurisdiction, without reference to the citizenship of their parents. As to this class there have been doubts, but never as to the first. For the purposes of this case, it is not necessary to solve these doubts. It is sufficient, for everything we have now to consider, that all children, born of citizen parents within the jurisdiction, are themselves citizens.' Minor v. Happersett (1874) 21 Wall. 162, 166-168."
"And it was observed that the language used, in defining citizenship, in the first section of the civil rights act of 1866, by the very congress which framed the fourteenth amendment, was 'all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed.' 112 U. S. 99-103, 5 Sup. Ct. 44-46."
"'It is evident from the proviso in the act of February 10, 1855, viz. 'that the rights of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers never resided in the United States,'"
"Before the Revolution, the views of the publicists had been thus put by Vattel: 'The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens."
"The framers of the constitution were familiar with the distinctions between the Roman law and the feudal law, between obligations based on territoriality and those based on the personal and invisible character of origin; and there is nothing to show that in the matter of nationality they intended to adhere to principles derived from regal government, which they had just assisted in overthrowing. Manifestly, when the sovereignty of the crown was thrown off, and an independent government established, every rule of the common law, and every statute of England obtaining in the colonies, in derogation of the principles on which the new government was founded, was abrogated."
"Nevertheless, congress has persisted from 1795 in rejecting the English rule, and in requiring the alien, who would become a citizen of the United States, in taking on himself the ties binding him to our government, to affirmatively sever the ties that bound him to any other. In the opinion of the attorney general, the United States, in recognizing the right of expatriation, declined, from the beginning, to accept the view that rested the obligation of the citizen on feudal principles, and proceeded on the law of nations [see above which specified natural born as being born to two citizen parents], which was in direct conflict therewith. And the correctness of this conclusion was specifically affirmed not many years after, when the right, as the natural and inherent right of all people and fundamental in this country, was declared by congress in the act of July 27, 1868 (15 Stat. 223, c. 249), carried forward into sections 1999 and 2000 of the Revised Statutes, in 1874. It is beyond dispute that the most vital constituent of the English common-law rule has always been rejected in respect of citizenship of the United States."
"Considering the circumstances surrounding the framing of the constitution, I submit that it is unreasonable to conclude that 'natural born citizen' applied to everybody born within the geographical tract known as the United States, irrespective of circumstances; and that the children of foreigners, happening to be born to them while passing through the country, whether of royal parentage or not, or whether of the Mongolian, Malay, or other race, were eligible to the presidency,"
"The words 'not subject to any foreign power' do not in themselves refer to mere territorial jurisdiction, for the persons referred to are persons born in the United States. All such persons are undoubtedly subject to the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and yet the act concedes that, nevertheless, they may be subject to the political jurisdiction of a foreign government. In other words, by the terms of the act, all persons born in the United States, and not owing allegiance to any foreign power, are citizens. The allegiance of children so born is not the local allegiance arising from their parents merely being domiciled in the country; and it is single, and not double, allegiance. Indeed, double allegiance, in the sense of double nationality, has no place in our law, and the existence of a man without a country is not recognized. Now, I take it that the children of aliens, whose parents have not only not renounced their allegiance to their native country, but are forbidden by its system of government, as well as by its positive laws, from doing so, and are not permitted to acquire another citizenship by the laws of the country into which they come, must necessarily remain themselves subject to the same sovereignty as their parents, and cannot, in the nature of things, be, any more than their parents, completely subject to the jurisdiction of such other country."
"In other words, the fourteenth amendment does not exclude from citizenship by birth children born in the United States of parents permanently located therein, and who might themselves become citizens; nor, on the other hand, does it arbitrarily make citizens of children born in the United States of parents who, according to the will of their native government and of this government, are and must remain aliens. Tested by this rule, Wong Kim Ark never became and is not a citizen of the United States, and the order of the district court should be reversed."
The case of U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark clearly does define natural born as being not only U.S. soil, but also of TWO U.S. citizen parents which is precisely WHY Wong Kim Ark's case was reversed. His parents were not citizens even though he was born in San Francisco.
Trolls like to cite from Wong Kim Ark's first few paragraphs, and ingore the Judge's CONCLUSIONS. They also ignore that Wong Kim Ark was BORN IN SAN FRANCISCO but was DENIED because his parents WERE NOT CITIZENS.
Feel free to copy the above - trolls will keep pasting certain sections of this case out of context and ignore the conclusion. The last time I posted this particular case citation the mods deleted it and then told me I was one post away from suspension. I'm now watching to see if this happens again.