Titles of Nobility
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
The purpose of this Article was to prevent elected officials from accepting gifts, presents or bribes from agents of foreign states. They wanted to prevent this type of corruption in our government by prohibiting elected officials from accepting what amounts to legalized bribes in exchange for political favors. The intent of this clause was to ban lawyers from serving in government and to prevent elected officials from accepting bribes. The founders would have considered corporations with foreign investors to be akin to foreign states. They would have considered bankers, lawyers, lobbyists and the agents of corporations to be the potential source of corruption in our government.
This clause made accepting gifts in exchange for political favors illegal, but it did not specify what the penalty for violating this law would be. In 1810 an amendment was proposed that would establish a penalty for violating Article I, Section 9, Clause 8. Any elected official found guilty of violating this law would be stripped of his or her citizenship and would be prevented from holding any elective office in the future. This proposed 13th amendment was voted on in the House of Representatives and received 87 out of the 90 votes cast. In the Senate, the proposed amendment was approved by 27 out of the 28 Senators.
Contrary to popular belief, the proposed amendment did not ban lawyers from serving in government. It merely attached a penalty to Article I, Section 9, Clause 8. The intent of the amendment was to prevent bribes not just to ban lawyers. The vast majority of the members of Congress in 1810 were lawyers and it is very unlikely that they would have voted in favor of a proposed amendment that would have forced them to resign from Congress and would have caused them to forfeit their citizenship. If the Amendment prohibited lawyers from serving in public office, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln would never have been eligible to serve.
I will write another article about the ratification of the original 13th Amendment and will post it in the next few days.
The Missing 13th Amendment
Passed by Congress May 1, 1810 - Ratified December 9, 1812.
"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honour, or shall without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the united States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them."
Replies