Original Intent Definition of Natural Born Citizen and Presidential Eligibility Resolution
Whereas, Article II, Section, 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution states "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...,"
Whereas, no person alive today or in the future was a citizen in the year 1788 (at the time of the adoption of
the Constitution), and thus the Constitution makes a clear distinction between a natural born citizen and a
citizen who is not natural born,
Whereas, Section 1 of the 14th Amendment only defines citizenship in general without making any distinction
between natural or non-natural born,
Whereas, Article I, Section 8, Clause 10 of the Constitution states "The Congress shall have Power...To define
and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations," The
Law of Nations being a set of books authored by the Swiss writer Emmerich de Vattel and is thus incorporated
into the framework of the Constitution,
Whereas, The Law of Nations was originally published (in the French language) in 1758, predating the drafting
of the Constitution by twenty-nine years. This important work was studied by our founders, particularly as
evidenced by George Washington’s two-hundred and twelve year overdue copy from the New York Society
Library (replaced by the Mount Vernon Estate, May 19, 2010), and defines the principles of the law of nature
applied to the conduct and affairs of nations and sovereigns. Its clear reference in the United States
Constitution is proof positive of our Framers’ desire that it be a primary source of understanding,
Whereas, Book I of The Law of Nations, Chapter XIX, § 212 (Joseph Chitty numbering) – “Citizens and natives”
reads: 'The citizens are the members of the civil society; bound to this society by certain duties, and subject to
its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in
the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by
the children of the citizens, those children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all
their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, in consequence of what it owes to its own preservation; and
it is presumed, as matter of course, that each citizen, on entering into society, reserves to his children the right
of becoming members of it. The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children; and these become
true citizens merely by their tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming to the years of
discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe to the society in which they were born. I say,
that, in order to be of the country, it is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; for, if he is
born there of a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country,'
Whereas, Vattel's definition of a natural born citizen makes it clear that he or she is one whose parents were
citizens at the time of birth, and especially whose father was a citizen. § 213 and § 215 of this work reiterate
that "children follow the condition of their fathers,"
Whereas, U.S. Senate Resolution 511 of April 30, 2008 declared Panamanian-born presidential candidate John
McCain to be a natural born citizen based upon the U.S. citizenship of his father and thus confirms Vattel’s
definition in modern times,
Whereas, in human genetics, as designed by our Creator, only the male carries the y-chromosome thus
determining the gender of his offspring and exactly matching the natural law of heredity as defined by Vattel,
Whereas, the Constitution for the United States of America is a legal document, the definitions of all words
therein must be held as those that its authors understood at the time of its writing. Only the mechanisms
outlined in Article V of that document can be used to legally alter or change its meaning; new dictionaries,
opinions of legal scholars, and court decisions notwithstanding.
Resolved, that it is the Constitution Party's position that the original intent definition of natural born
citizenship is thus the citizenship of a person's father, and therefore to be eligible for the office of United
States President, a candidate's father must have been an American citizen at the time of his or her birth.
Motion to introduce by the Constitution Party of West Virginia as unanimously approved in State Central
Committee meeting duly assembled, March 26, 2015, and signed:
_________________________________ Jeffrey-Frank..Jarrell, National Committeeman, W.Va.
_________________________________ Jeff Becker, National Committeeman, W.Va.
_________________________________ Ken Mosetti, , National Committeeman, W.Va.
Motion seconded by:
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