Emolument Clause: Information and Much More from Answers.com
- ️Wed Jul 01 2015
The Emolument clause refers to a provision in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, that forbids the United States from granting titles of nobility and restricts members of the government from receiving gifts from foreign states without the consent of the United States Congress.
Text
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. | ” |
History
The Framers intentions for the Emolument clause were two fold: to prevent a society of nobility from being established in the United States, and to protect the republican forms of government from being influenced by other governments. In Federalist No. 22, Alexander Hamilton stated, "One of the weak sides of republics, among their numerous advantages, is that they afford to easy an inlet to foreign corruption." Therefore, to counter this "foreign corruption" the delegates at the Constitutional Convention worded the clause in such a way as to act as a catch-all for any attempts by foreign governments to influence state or municipal policies through gifts or titles.[1]
Titles of nobility
The issue of titles was of serious importance to the American Revolutionaries and the Framers of the Constitution. Some felt that titles of nobility had no place in an equal and just society because they clouded people's judgment. Thomas Pain, in a scathing attack on nobility in general, wrote:
Dignities and high sounding names have different effects on different beholders. The lustre of the Star and the title of My Lord, over-awe the superstitious vulgar, and forbid them to inquire into the character of the possessor: Nay more, they are, as it were, bewitched to admire in the great, the vices they would honestly condemn in themselves. This sacrifice of common sense is the certain badge which distinguishes slavery from freedom; for when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.[2]
He felt that titles blinded people from seeing the true character of a person by providing titled individuals a lustre. Many Americans connected titles with the corruption that they had experienced from Great Britain, while others, like Benjamin Franklin, didn't have as negative a view of titles. He felt that if a title is ascending, that is, it is achieved through hard work during a person's lifetime, it is good because it encourages the title holder's posterity to aspire to achieve the same or greater title; however, Franklin commented, that if a title is descending, that is, it is passed down from the title holder to his posterity, then it is:
groundless and absurd, but often hurtful to that Posterity, since it is apt to make them proud, disdaining to be employ'd in useful Arts, and thence falling into Poverty, and all the Meannesses, Servility, and Wretchedness attending it; which is the present case with much of what is called the Noblesse in Europe.[3]
President's title
One of the first issues that the United States Senate dealt with was the title of president. Vice President John Adams called the senators' attention to this pressing procedural matter. Most senators were adverse to calling the president anything that resembled the titles of European monarchs, yet John Adams proceeded to recommend the title: "His Highness, the President of the United States, and Protector of their Liberties," and attempt to imitate the titles of the British monarch: "By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, Prince-Elector of Hannover, Duke of Brunswick" and the French monarch: "By the Grace of God, Most Christian King of France and Navarre." Some senators favored "His Elective Majesty" or "His Excellency." James Madison, a member of the House of Representatives, would have none of it. He declared that the pretentious European titles were ill suited for the "genius of the people" and "the nature of our Government." Washington became completely embarrassed with the topic and so the senators dropped it. From then on the president would simply be called president of the United States or Mr. President, drawing a sharp distinction between American and European customs. [4]
Titles of Nobility Amendment
In 1810, Senator Philip Reed of Maryland proposed an amendment to the constitution that would require any American who received a title of nobility or honour from a foreign government to relinquish their citizenship. It was adopted by House of Representatives on May 1, 1810 and submitted to the states, but to this point it has failed to be ratified by enough states, requiring 26 more states for its ratification.
References
- ^ Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.) (2005). The Heritage Guide to the Constitution. Edwin Meese, III: Regnery Publishing. ISBN 1-5969-8001-X.
- ^ The Life and Works of Thomas Paine. Edited by William M. Van der Weyde. Patriots' Edition. 10 vols. New Rochelle, N.Y.: Thomas Paine National Historical Association, 1925.
- ^ The Writings of Benjamin Franklin. Edited by Albert Henry Smyth. 10 vols. New York: Macmillan Co., 1905--7.
- ^ Divine, Robert A.; T.H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams (2003). America, past and present. Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 197. ISBN 0-321-99337-2.
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