Speech #900072087

Wong Kim Ark at page 654: "The Constitution of the United States. as originally adopted. uses the words citizen of the United States and natural born citizen of the United States. By the original Constitution. every representative in Congress is required to have been seven years a citizen of the United States and every Senator to have been nine years a citizen of the United States and no person except a natural born citizen or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution. shall be eligible to the Office of President. The Fourteenth Article of Amendment. besides declaring that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. . . . The Constitution nowhere defines the meaning of these words. either by way of inclusion nor of exclusion. except insofar as this is done by the affirmative declaration that all persons born or naturalized in the United States. and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. are citizens of the United States. In this. as in other respects. it must be interpreted in the light of the common law. the principles of history of which were familiarly known to the framers of the Constitution. Minor v.