Article I, Section 9, Clause 8:
"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."
In this section of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers were attempting to prevent individuals from acquiring Titles of Nobility which would grant them special privileges. If only Attorneys admitted to the BAR are allowed to be Judges and District Attorneys, are they not members of a privileged class?
The Founders were not nearly as concerned about the Titles of Nobility as they were in the special privileges that were associated with them.
One of the concerns of those who wrote the Constitution was that agents of foreign countries would seek to gain political advantages by bribing our public servants. They considered any gift or emolument given to a public official in exchange for political considerations to be a bribe.
Unfortunately, the Constitution offered no provision to hold guilty parties accountable. In 1810 the following amendment was proposed that would make it a crime for a public servant to accept any form of gift or emolument from a foreign power.
"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."
This proposed 13th Amendment in the House of Representatives the vote in favor of the proposed amendment was 87-3 in favor of its approval. In the Senate the vote was 27 to 1 in favor of sending it on to the states for ratification. Never before or since has any proposed amendment ever received such overwhelming support in both of the Houses of Congress.
Click on the following link for more information on the "Missing 13th Amendment"
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/essays/general/the-missing-13th-amendment/
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