The missing 13th Amendment 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.” The purpose of this section was to prevent elected officials from accepting gifts, presents or emoluments from agents of foreign states. They wanted to prevent the corruption in our government by prohibiting elected officials from accepting bribes in exchange for political favors. The intent of this clause was to not to ban lawyers from serving in government, it was 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 the potential source of the corruption of 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 officials found guilty of violating this law would be stripped of the 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 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 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 resign from Congress and caused them to forfeit their citizenship. If the Amendment prohibited lawyer 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 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 Amendment XIII 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 t
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 03:20:18 +0000
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