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Article 2, section 1 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; neither shall any person be eligible who shall not attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States."

The pertinent part is underlined. The Founders wrote themselves a "grandfather clause" so that they would be eligible to run for President since their parents were foreign born. Otherwise the clause would be redundant. They did not want men of divided loayalties serving.

The pertinent part is underlined. The Founders wrote themselves a "grandfather clause" so that they would be eligible to run for President since their parents were foreign born.

No. They wrote it because to be a natural born citizen of any country, you have to be born in that country. None of the founders were born in the United States. The founders were natural born subjects of England, and only later became citizens of the United States after independence was declared.