That clause specifically applies to people born OUTSIDE the United states. It was also modified in 1795 to remove the “natural born” part.
There simply doesn’t seem to have been any real issue raised about whether a child born in this country to a mother who was a citizen would be a citizen, and being born here, a natural born citizen.
Chester Arthur, our 21st president, had a citizen mother and a non-citizen father.
The most prominent issue raised against Obama was the claim that he was not actually born in Hawaii. In two other lawsuits, the plaintiffs argued that it was irrelevant whether he was born in Hawaii, but argued instead that he was nevertheless not a natural born citizen because his citizenship status at birth was also governed by the British Nationality Act of 1948. The relevant courts have either denied all applications or declined to render a judgment due to lack of jurisdiction. Some of the cases have been dismissed because of the plaintiff's lack of standing.] On July 28th, 2009, State officials in Hawaii once again issued a statement officially confirming Obama was born in the state of Hawaii.
7 FAM 1131.6-2 Eligibility for Presidency
c. The Constitution does not define "natural born". The “Act to establish an Uniform Rule of Naturalization”, enacted March 26, 1790, (1 Stat. 103,104) provided that, “...the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born ... 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.”
d. This statute is no longer operative, however, and its formula is not included in modern nationality statutes. In any event, the fact that someone is a natural born citizen pursuant to a statute does not necessarily imply that he or she is such a citizen for Constitutional purposes.
Arthur was born in Vermont to a U.S. citizen mother and a father from Ireland, who was eventually naturalized as a U.S. citizen. Arthur was sworn in as president when President Garfield died after being shot. Since his Irish father William was naturalized 14 years after Chester Arthur's birth, his citizenship status at birth is unclear, because he was born before the 1868 ratification of the 14th Amendment, which provided that any person born on United States territory and being subject to the jurisdiction thereof was considered a born U.S. citizen, and because he may have also held British citizenship at birth by patrilineal jus sanguinis. Arthur's natural born citizenship status is therefore equally unclear.
Ahh, now I see what you meant by the Arthur case.
From what little I've been able to gather, Arthur attempted to hide the fact that his father was not a citizen. He seems to have gone to substantial lengths to hide this. Why?
And if the issue was hidden or obscured at the time, it stands to reason that the precedent can't stand for the proposition that parentage is irrelevant to finding "natural born citizen," or that "A child born to foreign parents, on US soil, is a natural born citizen." At best, the precedent is that "we didn't ask and settle the question."