[csense]

art 2 states that to be a natural born citizen, one must be born on American soil, of two parents who at the time of birth were American citizens.

Article 2, section 1, clause 5 does not "state" this.

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; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

You can certainly make an argument that is what the framers intended, but it is incorrect to say Article 2 [section 1, clause 5] states it.

[DJ MacWoW]

I see an "or" in there. Read it again.

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution,

Notice that they differentiate between a "natural born citizen" And a "citizen at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution,

I'd say that's pretty clear.

[Jacksonian Grouch]

thank you for the correction.

the corrected version: “art 2 states that the President must be a natural born citizen. The definition of natural born citizen is to be born on American Soil, of parents who at time of birth are American Citizens.”

How does it read now? (and no, this is not sarcasm - it’s important to keep everything squared away)

JG

[El Gato]

You can certainly make an argument that is what the framers intended, but it is incorrect to say Article 2 [section 1, clause 5] states it.

It's not a matter of their "intent", but rather their understanding of or put another way the meaning of "Natural born citizen". A subtle difference perhaps, but "intent" is essentially unknowable, unless one can find it stated somewhere, but even then the intent of one may not have been the intent of others. Meaning however is less "fluid", at least at a given point in time.