[4Zoltan]

But the New York amendments are talking about people who were citizens before July 4th, 1776

[allmendream]

And? My point is they were not natural born citizens of the United States as the poster I responded to said they were. Citizens at the time of the adoption of the Constitution is NOT a subset of “natural born citizen”.

George Washington, for example, was born a natural born subject of England. He was no longer a British subject but a citizen of Virginia when Independence was declared and Virginia was no longer legally a colony, but a sovereign State. He became a citizen of the United Stats when the States united under the Constitution. He was a citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution.

Was he a citizen before that? Yes, but not legally of the United States - because the United States only legally existed after the adoption of the Constitution.

Of citizens of the United States, the Constitution only envisions three types. Those who were citizens at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, those that would be natural born citizens of the new republic, and those who would be naturalized under a uniform law for naturalization passed by Congress.