[itsahoot]

why did the same people who wrote the Constitution include in the very first law concerning citizenship a statement that the children of citizens born outside of the country were "natural born citizens".

Well mainly because they didn't do that.

[jwalsh07]

Wrong. They did exactly that.

[CA Conservative]

Well mainly because they didn't do that.

Read the Naturalization Act of 1790... And yes, I know it was superseded by later acts, but this was written by the same people who wrote the Constitution, so it should be able to tell us the original intent of the Founders in this area... And as conservatives, don't we always look to Original Intent?