Y'all keep bringing this up, but tell me what this means:
"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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."
At the time this document was established, there were no natural born U.S. presidents. That is why that line was written.
The way I read it, one must be a resident of the U.S. for fourteen years...am I reading it correctly?
No.
The framers recognized that the first group of men that might be President could not be natural born as there was no America to be born in. Thus the wording of the clause.
After the point where those who were born before 1776 were gone, the wording of the constitution requires a president to be a natural born citizen.
Additionally the 14 years requirement extends to individuals who have lived over seas. Ambassadors, military men etc.
If you are a natural born citizen, and have lived overseas for an extended period of time, you cannot come back to America and run for President unless you have lived here for 14 years.
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The framers recognized that the first group of men that might be President could not be natural born as there was no America to be born in. Thus the wording of the clause.
After the point where those who were born before 1776 were gone, the wording of the constitution requires a president to be a natural born citizen.
Sorry, Ferd...
I do not read it that way. It reads natural born or citizen "at the time of the adoption of this Constitution."
The "natural born" did not occur until 1811.
Fourteen years a resident seems to be the criteria.
The framers recognized that the first group of men that might be President could not be natural born as there was no America to be born in. Thus the wording of the clause.
After the point where those who were born before 1776 were gone, the wording of the constitution requires a president to be a natural born citizen.
Additionally the 14 years requirement extends to individuals who have lived over seas. Ambassadors, military men etc.
If you are a natural born citizen, and have lived overseas for an extended period of time, you cannot come back to America and run for President unless you have lived here for 14 years.
well, first you can look at the actual words in the contitution. the syntax is there. you may be reading it wrong.
second, I suppose you can look in the Federalist Papers but I would not know where to go.
The explination is out there everywhere. I learned this in 9th grade civics class.
I did look at the actual words in the Constitution...I posted them, and will do so again...
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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
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Re: Worst President
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barb
I did look at the actual words in the Constitution...I posted them, and will do so again...
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; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
Another way to say this same thing is:
"Only Natural born citizens (or any citizen at the time of the adoption of this document) who are at least 35 yrs old and having at least 14 consecutive years of US residency are eligible to be President of the US." the word "neither" indicates that all criteria are necessary, not just one of them, with the exception of the "time of adoption" clause.
Hybrid Mode
