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Titles of Nobility Amendment
The Titles of Nobility Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The
11th Congress passed it on May 1, 1810, and submitted to the state legislatures for ratification. It would
strip United States citizenship from any citizen who accepted a title of nobility from an "emperor, king,
prince or foreign power." On two occasions between 1812 and 1816, it was within two states of the
number needed to become part of the Constitution. Congress did not set a time limit for its ratification,
so the amendment is still pending before the states. Ratification by an additional 26 states is now needed
for its adoption.
Contents
Text
Background
Legislative and ratification history
Misconceptions
See also
References
Text
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.[1]
Background
This proposed amendment would amplify both Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, which prohibits the federal
government from issuing titles of nobility or honor, and Section 10, Clause 1, which prohibits the states
from issuing them.
One theory for why the Congress proposed the amendment is that it was in response to the 1803
marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte's younger brother, Jerome, and Betsy Patterson of Baltimore,
Maryland, who gave birth to a boy for whom she wanted aristocratic recognition from France.[2] The
child, named Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte, was not born in the United States, but in the United Kingdom
on July 7, 1805 – nevertheless, he would have held U.S. citizenship through his mother. Another theory
is that his mother actually desired a title of nobility for herself and, indeed, she is referred to as the
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"Duchess of Baltimore" in many texts written about the amendment. The marriage had been annulled in
1805 – well before the amendment's proposal by the 11th Congress. Nonetheless, Representative
Nathaniel Macon of North Carolina is recorded to have said, when voting on the amendment, that "he
considered the vote on this question as deciding whether or not we were to have members of the Legion
of Honor in this country."[3]
Legislative and ratification history
The Titles of Nobility Amendment was introduced in the Senate by
Democratic–Republican Senator Philip Reed of Maryland,[4] was
passed on April 27, 1810, by a vote of 19–5[5] and sent to the House
of Representatives for its consideration. It was passed by the House
on May 1, 1810, by a vote of 87–3.[6] Having been approved by
Congress, the proposed amendment was sent to the state legislatures
for ratification and was ratified by the following states:[7]
Ratification status
1. Maryland – December 25, 1810 Ratified amendment
2. Kentucky – January 31, 1811 Rejected amendment
3. Ohio – January 31, 1811
4. Delaware – February 2, 1811
5. Pennsylvania – February 6, 1811
6. New Jersey – February 13, 1811
7. Vermont – October 24, 1811
8. Tennessee – November 21, 1811
9. North Carolina – December 23, 1811
10. Georgia – December 31, 1811
11. Massachusetts – February 27, 1812
12. New Hampshire – December 9, 1812
The amendment was rejected by Virginia (February 14, 1811),[8] New York (March 12, 1812), Connecticut
(May 13, 1813), and Rhode Island (September 15, 1814). No other state legislature has completed
ratification action on it.
When the proposed amendment was submitted to the states, ratification by 13 states was required for it
to become part of the Constitution; 11 had done so by early 1812. However, with the addition of
Louisiana into the Union that year (April 30, 1812), the ratification threshold rose to 14. Thus, when New
Hampshire ratified it in December 1812, the proposed amendment again came within 2 states of being
ratified. No additional states ratified the proposed amendment and when Indiana and Mississippi were
established as states (December 11, 1816, and December 10, 1817, respectively) the threshold rose again
to 15. Today, with 50 states in the Union, it has climbed to 38 and ratification by 26 additional states
would be necessary in order to incorporate the proposed amendment into the Constitution.[2]
On February 27, 1818, President James Monroe communicated to Congress the record shown above. He
and Congress were both satisfied that the required number of ratifications had not been reached. A law,
passed April 20, 1818, placed official responsibility for overseeing the amendment process into the hands
of the Secretary of State, where it remained until 1950.[7]
Misconceptions
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People (known as "Thirteenthers")[4] have claimed that the Titles of Nobility Amendment actually
became part of the Constitution. It in fact was mistakenly included as the "Thirteenth Amendment" in
some early 19th century printings of the Constitution.[2][9] Between 1819 and 1867 the statutory law code
of Virginia included it as well.[10] This misconception has become significant because it is yoked with
another misconception – that a lawyer's use of the word or abbreviation of "Esquire" is a title of nobility
acquired from a foreign power – and so some litigants and others have tried to assert that lawyers have
lost their citizenship or are disqualified from public office.
The error arose when, in 1815, the Philadelphia printing house of Bioren and Duane published, under a
government contract, a five-volume set titled Laws of the United States, which printed, on page 74 of the
first volume,[11] the proposed amendment as "Article 13", immediately following the adopted and
authentic Eleventh and Twelfth amendments – with no comment on that page – but more than 76 pages
earlier in the volume, on page ix of the Introduction, the editors said:
There has been some difficulty in ascertaining whether the amendment proposed, which is
stated as the thirteenth, has or has not been adopted by a sufficient number of the state
legislatures. .... It has been considered best, however, to publish the proposed amendment in
its proper place, as if it had been adopted, with this explanation, to prevent
misconception.[12]
It appears that the Bioren and Duane set of federal laws being widely distributed as a standard reference,
some compilers of other books copied its text of the Constitution and not remembering, or having
skipped, the caveat in the Introduction, mistakenly included the Titles of Nobility Amendment as if it
had been adopted as the Thirteenth Amendment. This error came to the attention of the U.S. House of
Representatives in December 1817. At that time, the publisher of a pocket edition of the Constitution,
printed under government contract, included the amendment as the Thirteenth Amendment, at which
time the House requested that the President ascertain and report on the true status of the proposed
amendment. Notwithstanding the official conclusion that the amendment had not been adopted, the
erroneous printing of the proposed amendment as if adopted occasionally occurred (using the
Americanized spelling and punctuation of Bioren and Duane, and omitting any ratification information
just like Bioren and Duane) until some time after 1845. In 1845, the Bioren and Duane series of laws was
replaced by an entirely new series, United States Statutes at Large, which printed the Constitution with
only 12 amendments in volume 1 and put the unadopted Titles of Nobility Amendment among
congressional resolutions in volume 2.[13]
In 1833, Associate Justice Joseph Story of the U.S. Supreme Court published the text of the Constitution
in his Commentaries on the Constitution. That publication included twelve amendments and a clear
statement (in § 959) that there were only twelve amendments adopted. The text also included a
statement (in § 1346) that the Titles of Nobility Amendment had not been adopted "probably from a
growing sense that it is wholly unnecessary." In 1847, Associate Justice Levi Woodbury mentioned in a
dissenting opinion that there "were only twelve amendments ever made to" the Constitution.[14] In
Dillon v. Gloss (1921), the Supreme Court explicitly described the Titles of Nobility Amendment as not
having been adopted.[15] In Coleman v. Miller (1939), the two dissenting Justices similarly described the
Titles of Nobility Amendment as unadopted.[16] In Afroyim v. Rusk (1967), the majority and dissenting
opinions described it as unadopted.[17]
On March 2, 1861, the Congress proposed the Corwin Amendment, which if adopted would have
prevented any federal legislation, including a future proposed amendment to the Constitution, that
would have interfered with or abolished slavery.[18] It is significant that, although this proposal was
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already titled as the Thirteenth Amendment, no one claimed that there already was an adopted
Thirteenth Amendment.
On February 1, 1865, the 38th Congress passed and sent to the states for ratification a proposed
amendment that would become the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery.[19][20] When it was
proposed and adopted, no one protested that there already was a Thirteenth Amendment – either the
1810 or the 1861 proposals.
The assertion that the Titles of Nobility Amendment has been ratified by the required number of states
has never been upheld by any court in the United States. In the few instances in which courts have been
confronted with the assertion that it was, those claims have been dismissed. In Campion v. Towns,
Docket No. CV-04-1516PHX-ROS, (D. Ariz. July 15, 2005) 96 A.F.T.R.2d 5646, 2005 u.s.dist. LEXIS
32650, 2005 WL 2160115, a tax protester raised it in his defenses against a charge of tax evasion. The
court replied that it would "correct any misunderstanding Plaintiff has concerning the text of the
Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution":
In his Complaint, Plaintiff includes a certified copy of the Thirteenth Amendment from the
Colorado State Archives which was published in 1861. As included in that compilation, the
Thirteenth Amendment would strip an individual of United States citizenship if they accept
any title of nobility or honor. However, this is not the Thirteenth Amendment. The correct
Thirteenth Amendment prohibits slavery. Although some people claim that state publication
of the erroneous Thirteenth Amendment makes it valid, Article V of the Constitution does
not so provide.[21]
In a 2004 case, Sibley v. Culliver, a federal district court found that the defendant's invocation of this
amendment worked to his detriment. The court took note of documents produced by the defendant, a
convicted murderer who submitted documents in support of his appeal claiming that it rendered his
conviction invalid:
These documents allege in great detail a complex conspiracy by an illegal monopoly, the
American Bar Association, which resulted in a take-over of the judicial systems of this
country, both federal and state, by the ABA and its related entities, including the Alabama
State Bar Association and Alabama's Unified Court System. It is then alleged that the ABA-
controlled system is illegal and in violation of what is referred to as the "missing Thirteenth
Amendment," to the United States Constitution, which stated that any person who accepts a
title of nobility forfeits his United States citizenship and which amendment was ratified but
subsequently hidden or excised from the law. Since lawyers and judges accept the titles
"Esquire"/"The Honorable," it is argued, they are not citizens and the entire judicial system is
illegal. Furthermore, these documents contend that the charge of conviction in this case,
capital murder of a police officer acting in the line of duty, is unconstitutional because it
bestows upon police officers special rights or a special designation of the worth of life in
contravention of the "missing Thirteenth Amendment." The documents then explain that
these are reasons that Sibley and his wife refused appointed counsel on appeal and refused to
pursue matters any further in the court system and that only Congress can give them
relief.[22]
The Sibley court dismissed the appeal, concluding in part that the defendant was simply not seeking
relief through the courts. Sibley v. Culliver was cited by a court in describing a prison inmate's attempt
to use the Titles of Nobility Amendment to claim immunity from jurisdiction:
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Some plaintiffs have relied on what they have called the "true" Thirteenth Amendment to
argue that various individuals are not citizens. This version of the Thirteenth Amendment
allegedly states that individuals who accept titles of nobility must renounce their United
States citizenship. .... The Court interprets Belt's claim of a noble title and another nationality
as further indications of his attempt to renounce his citizenship and therefore contest the
Government's ability to keep him imprisoned.[23]
In a decision by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, the court rejected a defendant's attempt to use the
Titles of Nobility Amendment to deny the trial court's authority to put him on trial:
[The Defendant] also appears to argue that licensing lawyers violates the original Thirteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution by equating licensure with accepting a title of
nobility or honor. The current Thirteenth Amendment does not resemble the one Casteel
cites, nor is he correct that a lawyer's license to practice is granted by a foreign power.[24]
See also
List of amendments to the United States Constitution, amendments sent to the states, both ratified
and unratified
List of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution, amendments proposed in Congress
but never sent to the states for ratification
Title of Nobility Clause
Afroyim v. Rusk
United States nationality law
References
1. "The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation, Centennial Edition,
Interim Edition: Analysis of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 26,
2013" (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2013/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2013.pdf) (PDF).
Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. 2013. p. 49. Retrieved May 11, 2014.
2. Jol A. Silversmith (April 1999), "The "Missing Thirteenth Amendment": Constitutional Nonsense and
Titles of Nobility" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150215234249/http://www.thirdamendment.com/8S
CIDLJ577.pdf) (PDF), Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, 8: 577, archived from the
original (http://www.thirdamendment.com/8SCIDLJ577.pdf) (PDF) on February 15, 2015
3. 21 "Annals of Congress" 2050
4. Adler, Jerry (July 26, 2010). "The Move to 'Restore' the 13th Amendment" (http://www.newsweek.co
m/move-restore-13th-amendment-74391). Newsweek.
5. 20 Annals of Congress 670–672
6. 20 Annals of Congress 2050–2051
7. James J. Kilpatrick, ed. (1961). The Constitution of the United States and Amendments Thereto.
Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government. p. 65.
8. Gideon M. Hart, The 'Original' Thirteenth Amendment:The Misunderstood Titles of Nobility
Amendment 94 Marquette Law Rev. 311 at 328, footnote 98 (fall 2001);
http://scholarship.law.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5053&context=mulr. Also, as
reported in the Virginia Senate Journal for that date, page 83, http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?
id=nyp.33433014921120;view=1up;seq=89.
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9. Hart, Gideon M. (2010). "The 'Original' Thirteenth Amendment: The Misunderstood Titles of Nobility
Amendment". Marquette Law Review. 94 (311). SSRN 1788908
(https://ssrn.com/abstract=1788908).
10. "The Lost 13th Amendment" (http://discerninghistory.com/2013/04/the-lost-13th-amendment/).
Discerning History. April 15, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
11. "Laws of the United States of America, from the 4th ... v. 1" (http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.
33433090743042;view=1up;seq=94.). HathiTrust Digital Library.
12. "Laws of the United States of America, from the 4th ... v. 1" (http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.
33433090743042;view=1up;seq=17;size=150.). HathiTrust Digital Library.
13. Curt E. Conklin, The Case of the Phantom Thirteenth Amendment: A historical and bibliographic
nightmare, 88 Law Library Journal 121 (Winter 1996).
14. Waring v. Clarke (1847) 46 U.S. (5 How.) 441 at 493, 12 L.Ed. 226 at 251 (dissenting op.).
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=14147992274107207212
15. Dillon v. Gloss (1921) 256 U.S. 368 at 375, 65 L.Ed. 994 at 997, 41 S.Ct. 510 at 512.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3455641467078386929
16. Coleman v. Miller (1939) 307 U.S. 433 at 472, 83 L.Ed. 1385 at 1406, 59 S.Ct. 972 at 990
(dissenting op.). https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13916201793014079286
17. Afroyim v. Rusk (1967) 387 U.S. 253 at 258–259 and 277–278, 18 L.Ed.2d 757 at 762 and 772, 87
S.Ct. 1660 at 1663 and 1673. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?
case=2521246303796542623
18. 12 Statutes at Large 251.
19. "Joint Resolution Submitting 13th Amendment to the States; signed by Abraham Lincoln and
Congress" (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mal&fileName=mal3/436/4361100/malpag
e.db&recNum=0). The Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress: Series 3. General
Correspondence. 1837–1897. Library of Congress.
20. "Thirteenth Amendment – Slavery and Involuntary Servitude" (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/con
stitution/amendment13/). FindLaw. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
21. https://casetext.com/case/campion-v-towns (at footnote 1).
22. 243 F. Supp. 2d 1278, 1283 (M.D. Ala. 2003), aff'd 377 F.3d 1196 (11th Cir. 2004)
23. U.S. v. Tariq L. Belt, Docket No. CIV- PJM-10-2921, (.D. Md.., July 26, 2011) 2011 u.s.dist. LEXIS
81548, 2011 WL 3236065, at fn. 10. (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCOURTS-mdd-8_10-cv-0292
1/pdf/USCOURTS-mdd-8_10-cv-02921-0.pdf)
24. State v. Casteel (Wis.App., July 31, 2001) 247 Wis.2d 451, 634 N.W.2d 338 at footnote 6.
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