The reason for the change is how Congress and the nation has changed when it comes to women voting and holding office, and also our acceptance of dual citizenship.
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“Living” document?
Words have meanings.
“’Living’ document? Words have meanings.”
Time to put your straw man to bed. He is tired and worn out.
Women can vote, hold office, and own property. Slavery was abolished. Blacks are citizens, even natural born citizens. This is not because the Constitution is a “living” document. It is because society changed its collective views on these matters, and our representative government made changes to the laws.
So when Vattel penned the term “natural born citizen” he meant citizen at birth by virtue of the place of birth and the citizenship of the child’s parents, but at the time it was really the father’s citizenship that mattered. In modern times, the citizenship of the mother is equally important.
If natural born citizen means citizen at birth due to the parent’s citizenship, then Cruz is a natural born citizen even if he would not have been if he was born in Canada in 1791. This is because he was a US citizen at birth because his mother was a US citizen, but not his father, and in 1791 he could have been a natural born citizen by being born in Canada only if his father was a US citizen (which he was not). Under the naturalization act of 1952, Cruz was a citizen at birth because his mother met the citizenship and residency requirements.