“You lawyer types exist solely for the purpose of confusing plain English.”
The US Constitution was written by lawyers, who most certainly DID know what they meant:
“The term “citizen,” as understood in our law, is precisely analogous to the term “subject” in the common law, and the change of phrase has entirely resulted from the change of government. The sovereignty has been transferred from one man to the collective body of the people, and he who before as a “subject of the king” is now “a citizen of the State.”
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/169/649
Would the Founders recognize the Republic as they established it or would they be appalled at what they found if they were able to see it today?