[patlin]

bush, actually the 14th has everything to do with slavery and protecting the rights of the freed slaves in that the states could no longer deny them citizenship. The 14th does define citizenship as it was not a citizenship amendment in that it was passed to increase citizenship. It is at it's core a protect amendment and thus the reason the courts have usurped it beyond belief to create protections for non god given rights that it was never meant to protect. Membership in society is a God given right as no man can exist on his own.

Thus, you are beating a dead horse with Vattel. Vattel was only one source that supported natural law, but if you read the congressional records, others such as Locke who also wrote on natural law was far more influential. That & the fact that the meaning of “natural born” as it was at the core of English law, prior to the king expanding it with his feudal law, is exactly the same as Locke's, Vattel’s & all the other writers of natural law of nations that Congress used for reference.

[patlin]

correction: The 14th does define citizenship as BUT it was not a citizenship amendment in that it was passed to increase citizenship

[patlin]

correction: The 14th does define citizenship as BUT it was not a citizenship amendment in that it was NOTpassed as a way to forevermore create an increase citizenship