What If?
(Implications if Restored)
If the missing 13th Amendment were restored, "special interests" and
"immunities" might be rendered unconstitutional. The prohibition against
"honors" (privileges) would compel the entire government to operate under the
same laws as the citizens of this nation. Without their current personal immunities
(honors), our judges and I.R.S. agents would be unable to abuse common citizens without
fear of legal liability. If this 13th Amendment were restored, our entire government would
have to conduct itself according to the same standards of decency, respect, law, and
liability as the rest of the nation. If this Amendment and the term "honor" were
applied today, our government's ability to systematically coerce and abuse the public
would be all but eliminated.
Imagine.
Imagine!
A government without special privileges or immunities. How could we describe it? It would
be ... almost like ... a government ... of the people ... by the people ... for the
people!
Imagine: a government ... whose members were truly accountable to the public; a government
that could not systematically exploit its own people!
It's unheard of ... it's never been done before. Not ever in the entire history of the
world.
Bear in mind that Senator George Mitchell of Maine and the National Archives concede this
13th Amendment was proposed by Congress in 1810. However, they explain that there were
seventeen states when Congress proposed the "title of nobility" Amendment; that
ratification required the support of thirteen states, but since only twelve states
supported the Amendment, it was not ratified. The Government Printing Office agrees; it
currently prints copies of the Constitution of the United States which include the
"title of nobility" Amendment as proposed, but un-ratified.
Even if this 13th Amendment were never ratified, even if Dodge and Dunn's research or
reasoning is flawed or incomplete, it would still be an extraordinary story.
Can you imagine, can you understand how close we came to having a political paradise,
right here on Earth? Do you realize what an extraordinary gift our forebears tried to
bequeath us? And how close we came?
One vote. One state's vote.
The federal government concedes that twelve states voted to ratify this Amendment between
1810 and 1812. But they argue that ratification require thirteen states, so the Amendment
lays stillborn in history, unratified for lack of a just one more state's support.
One vote.
David Dodge, however, says one more state did ratify, and he claims he has the evidence to
prove it.