"Article II of the U.S. Constitution states that “No person except a natural born citizen … shall be eligible to the Office of President,” and so the question is: Does natural born citizen mean born a citizen or born in the U.S.? The Founding Fathers were of course aware of both jus soli (birthright citizenship) and jus sanguinis (citizenship through parentage), but deliberately wrote “natural born” rather than something like “born on U.S. soil,” arguably to include children born to U.S parents outside the country.

The first Congress of the United States (which included many of the Founders) furthered this interpretation, when, in 1790, they passed the Immigration and Naturalization Act, stating that: “The children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond the sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens of the United States.” (In 1795 Congress however passed a new act stating that: “… the children of citizens of the United States born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, shall be considered as citizens of the United States.”)