Gifts from Foreign Governments

                    The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article I, Section 9, Clause 8:  "… And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them [United States], 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."  This provision in the Constitution provides us with assurance that our elected officials will do the job we have given them without being "bought" by gifts from foreign nations.

                    "The Founders were anxious that the wealth of European nations would not be used to compromise the loyalties of American officials.  It is said that a gift from the king of France to the American ambassador during the Revolutionary War aroused sufficient concern to have this provision inserted in the Constitution….

                    "The Founders left no doubt as to their intention when they incorporated this provision into the Constitution."  (See W. Cleon Skousen, The Making of America - The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, 487.)

                    Robert Delahunty further explained the importance of the Emoluments Clause:  "Like several other provisions of the Constitution, the Emoluments Clause also embodies the memory of the epochal constitutional struggles in seventeenth-century Britain between the forces of Parliament and the Stuart dynasty.  St. George Tucker's explanation of the clause noted that `in the reign of Charles the [S]econd of England, that prince, and almost all his officers of state were either actual pensioners of the court of France, or supposed to be under its influence, directly, or indirectly, from that cause.  The reign of that monarch has been, accordingly, proverbially disgraceful to his memory.'  As these remarks imply, the clause was directed not merely at American diplomats serving abroad, but more generally at officials throughout the federal government.

                    "The Emoluments Clause has apparently never been litigated, but it has been interpreted and enforced through a long series of opinions of the Attorneys General and by less-frequent opinions of the Comptrollers General.  Congress has also exercised its power of "Consent" under the clause by enacting the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act, which authorizes federal employees to accept foreign governmental benefits of various kinds in specific circumstances" (The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, 167).

                    I believe that it is obvious why our elected leaders and other federal workers should not receive emoluments from foreign governments, but I want to make sure you see the reason.  We want our elected representatives and those they appoint to positions to be loyal to the United States and protect the rights of Americans!  We must continue to insist that our officials be true to our Constitution and nation.

No Titles of Nobility

                    The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday comes from Article I, Section 9, Clause 8:  "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States…."  This clause in the Constitution guaranteed that the government would not bestow aristocratic titles or create a titled class in the United States.

                    The Founders were determined that their new society would not be divided into classes.  "This provision is almost identical with the one which appears in the Articles of Confederation (Article VI).  It was designed to prevent the division of the people into upper and lower classes, and to prevent officers or persons of prominence in the United States form coming under the influence of foreign powers through titles or gifts.  When Lord Baltimore received his charter for Maryland in 1632 it authorized him to grant titles of nobility.  One or two other colonial charters granted this same authority.  The Founders were anxious to wipe out the possibility of a peerage class being developed during the coming generation.

                    "The ranks of nobility in England were those of a duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron.  There were to be no such ranks among the people of the United States."  (See W. Cleon Skousen, The Making of America - The Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, 486.)

                    This part of what is called the Emoluments Clause shows the greatness of the men who founded our nation.  Among the group of men who wrote our Constitution, there was enough education, experience, knowledge, and wisdom that they tried to look down the corridors of time and solve as many future problems as possible.  They realized the damage that could come to this new nation if the people became divided by titles.

                    "Article VI of the Articles of Confederation was the source of the Constitution's prohibition on federal titles of nobility and the so-called Emoluments Clause.  The clause sought to shield the republican character of the United States against corrupting foreign influences.

                    "The prohibition on federal titles of nobility - reinforced by the corresponding prohibition on state titles of nobility … was designed to underpin the republican character of the American government.  In the ample sense James Madison gave the term in The Federalist No. 39, a republic was `a government which derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people, and is administered by persons holding their offices during good behavior.'"  (See Robert Delahunty, The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, 166.)

                    This clause protects the American people and their republican government.  Along with other clauses, it helps to insure that the government will be "of the people, by the people, and for the people."