[DiogenesLamp]

I really rather suspect that none of them thought it important enough to be more specific.

I think they regarded the concept as so universally understood that none of them thought the meaning was in dispute.

Now I have postulated that some of them believed it to follow the English rule, and others took it to mean the natural law principle as stated by Vattel, and each thinking the other agreed with him, didn't spend much time discussing it.

And let's face it. In 1787, it was pretty d@mned difficult to be born in America to an Alien father that didn't come here to stay. The percentage of overlap between the English Common Law method and the Vattel method was at that time very close to 100%.

I doubt at the time that many of them considered the differences would ever diverge significantly.

[Tau Food]

I think they regarded the concept as so universally understood that none of them thought the meaning was in dispute.

That may be true, but if it was a commonly used term, why do we not find that the term was commonly used in other documents? Are there any books or documents written before the Constitution that used the term natural born citizen? (I ask that question genuinely not knowing the answer.)