How can a single member of Congress “require” anything? In 1793 James Madison accepted French citizenship and thus became a dual citizen.
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-26-02-0129
George Bancroft’s point was that the first 21 year and then finally the Article II Section 1 14 year residence requirement was the way the Framers dealt with allowing persons born abroad to eventually qualify for the presidency.
As men of many nations had shed their blood in the cause of American independence.
I think you’ll find that in 2016 there are relatively few Americans who believe a child born abroad to an American citizen parent who has spent 42 years living in the U.S. and who qualifies under the law as a “Citizen of the United States At Birth” should be denied the right to become president.
But time and the courts will tell.
Required: to claim or ask for by right and authority
b archaic : request
The following is a portion of an earlier post containing the event I was referring to:
Fourth, when the 1790 Naturalization Act was reconsidered in a few years, James Madison himself pointed out that Congress only had constitutional authority to naturalize “aliens.” 4 Annals of Cong. 1027 (Dec. 29, 1794). Madison’s observation again confirms the point noted above that Congress can only naturalize persons who are not already natural born citizens.
The bill was then committed on January 2, 1795 to a three-person committee that included Madison. Id. at 1058. On January 5, 1795, Madison reported a new Naturalization bill. Id. at 1060. The bill reported by Madison was adopted by Congress, and it amended the statute to eliminate the words “natural born” and simply state that “the children of citizens of the United States” born abroad “shall be considered as citizens.”
See An Act To Establish an Uniform Rule of Naturalization; and To Repeal the Act Heretofore Passed on That Subject, ch. 20, § 3, 1 Stat. 414, 415 (1795).