Worst President

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by Barb

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.