The Natural Born Citizen Clause as Originally Understood

Thank you for your compelling and valid points.

” ... ‘Natural Born Citizen’ as this clause defined in ‘Laws of Nation’ was understood to be born on sovereign soil to 2 citizen parents.”

This would be very sensible if so stated. I’m not familier with “Laws of Nations” (and no, I don’t expect you to educate me), nor things “understood.” With the Constitution we must abide with things written, rather than presumed.

“... being born a citizen was not good enough, as John Jay implies.”
For this we would have to know what John Jay was thinking, as opposed to what he stated, know his thoughts rather than his writing; to which there is no answer, only argument.

“... the definition offered by John Bingham ... the framer of the 14th Amendment.”
I discount this argument offered. This would be post-Civil War (and the source of much mischief) althought it actually reinforces my argument. He speaks of two types of citizen; Natural Born and Naturalized, which was addressed previously: “Is Ted Cruz a US Citizen? Yes. Is Ted Cruz a Naturalized citizen? No. Therefore, he is a Natural Born citizen.” There is no third category of citizenship.

I hope you recognize, this argument for non-elligibility has foundation in Ted Cruz’s political enemies, who fear disruption of their comfortable culture in Washington DC (you?). Ted Cruz had US Citizenship at birth, obtained most certainly by his being born. If Canada extends citizenship, for whatever reason, that does not interfere with his qualification for President.

There are actual statutes passed within Congress' legitimate Consititional powers that say Cruz is natural born.

Congress only has the power to naturalize (Article 1, Sec.8, Clause 4). You can't create a natural born Citizen with any statute or law made by man.

Not much information exists on why the Third Congress (under the lead of James Madison and the approval of George Washington) deleted "natural born" from the Naturalization Act of 1790 when it passed the Naturalization Act of 1795. There is virtually no information on the subject because they probably realized that the First Congress committed errors when it passed the Naturalization Act of 1790 and did not want to create a record of the errors.

It can be reasonably argued that Congress realized that under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress is given the power to make uniform laws on naturalization and that this power did not include the power to decide who is included or excluded from being a presidential Article II "natural born Citizen." While Congress has passed throughout United States history many statutes declaring who shall be considered nationals and citizens of the United States at birth and thereby exempting such persons from having to be naturalized under naturalization laws, at no time except by way of the short-lived "natural born" phrase in Naturalization Act of 1790 did it ever declare these persons to be "natural born Citizens."

The uniform definition of "natural born Citizen" was already provided by the law of nations and was already settled. The Framers therefore saw no need nor did they give Congress the power to tinker with that definition. Believing that Congress was highly vulnerable to foreign influence and intrigue, the Framers, who wanted to keep such influence out of the presidency, did not trust Congress when it came to who would be President, and would not have given Congress the power to decide who shall be President by allowing it to define what an Article II "natural born Citizen " is.

Additionally, the 1790 act was a naturalization act. How could a naturalization act make anyone an Article II "natural born Citizen?" After all, a "natural born Citizen" was made by nature at the time of birth and could not be so made by any law of man.

Natural Born Citizen Through the Eyes of Early Congresses

The very first Immigration law (1790) clearly states that children of U.S. citizens born abroad are NBC."

Actually the 1790 act (repealed 5 years later) stated: "...shall be considered as" natural born Citizens.

IV. CONCLUSION
The introduction to this Article posed a question: “in the eyes of early Americans, would someone born in a foreign country of American parents be a ‘natural born citizen’ and therefore eligible to be President of the United States?” The pertinent historical materials lead to only one conclusion: aside from children born to U.S. ambassadors or soldiers in hostile armies, the answer is “no.”