Dear Mr. Silversmith:
Your thesis, which can be found here is to an extent, incomplete, misleading, and speculative. Let’s confine ourselves to the whole body of official evidentiary fact councilor.
I do not claim, infer, or hold that the mere publications of Article XIII by many of the several states from 1821 to 1827 constituted a lawful adoption of the amendment. As you know Mr. Silversmith, the ratification of a proposed amendment to the federal Constitution by the legislature of a state is not an act of legislation in the proper sense of the word; it is but the expression of the assent of the state to the proposed amendment. HAWKE v. SMITH , 253 U.S. 221 (1920)[1]
The legal definition of the word “assent” is that it implies agreement, especially as a result of deliberation.
I claim, and hold that the actions of the deliberative body of Virginia on March 12, 1819 constituted a lawful assent to the proposed amendment.
As you know Mr. Silversmith, in a 1994 ruling passed down by Mr. Christopher M. Runkel, Acting General Council, from the U.S. Dept. of Justice., it was held that “At most, 13 states have officially notified NARA of their ratification’s of the Titles of Nobility amendment”, giving wide judicial latitude to the probability that Virginia’s actions constituted ratification of the amendment.
We must take careful notice of the fact that someone in the Dept. of State made a hand written notation at the bottom of the Virginia 1819 Revised Codes that were received by them on August 29, 1821 citing “C.1.”, which as you know referred to the first chapter of Volume 1 of that publication and read as follows;
“Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that there shall be published an edition of the laws of this Commonwealth in which shall be contained the following matters, that is to say: the Constitution of the United States and the amendments thereto.”
In Volume II of that publication we find that the deliberative body of Virginia declared Article XIII to be “ADOPTED”
It is critical to understand that the compilation of the 1819 Revised Codes over a span of almost three years involved the Governor, and many of Virginia’s Senators and House of Delegates Representatives. As well as some of its finest lawyers.
FACT:
Under a Resolution passed by the 15th Congress on Dec. 31, 1817, Virginia was asked for its legislative position on the Titles of Nobility amendment.
On March 12, 1819, the Virginia deliberative body authorized under an Act of the General Assembly, the publication of the federal Constitution with Article XIII affixed. And, on page 635 of Volume II of its laws, it declared that the amendment had been “ADOPTED”.
On August 29, 1821, the State Dept. received a copy of Virginia’s 1819 Revised Codes and acknowledged in writing that it was aware of the declaration made in the first paragraph of the first chapter of those “authentic documents”.
The 1819 Revised Codes clearly noted that the publication of the federal Constitution was outside of, and in addition to, its publication of the laws of Virginia.
The only stipulation with regard to the ratification of an amendment to the federal Constitution, in force at that time under the 1815 Laws of the United States were, “did the state legislature act on it”.
The official records show, that it was a well know fact that Virginia was the last vote to be considered and as of March 1818, the ratification process was still in motion. [2]
On March 12, 1819, the Virginia General Assembly comprised of both the Senate and the House of Delegates rendered its position on the amendment and delivered “authenticated documents” of that position to the Secretary of State on August 29, 1821.
The failure of the Secretary of State to announce or certify the adoption of the amendment is irrelevant. As you know Mr. Silversmith, “That the Secretary of State did not proclaim its ratification… is not material, for the date of its consummation, and not that on which it is proclaimed, controls”. DILLON V. GLOSS, 256 U. S. 368 Volume 256 1921 [3]
No certified letter from the Governor was required and the Secretary of State did not ask for a certified letter. He asked for “authenticated documents” and that’s exactly what Virginia delivered.
I believe that we have a very strong case that Virginia did assent to the proposal on March 12, 1819. We must now address your assertion that the newer states should have been included in the vote.
In 1816, a letter from James Monroe to General Winder, made it clear that he (James Monroe) was unsure if the newer states would need to be included in the voting process. The record is painfully clear that the 15th Congress, the President, the Secretary of State, and all of the governments of the several states were in agreement that only 13 ratification’s from the original 17 states, that existed in the union in 1810, when the proposal left Congress, were needed for adoption of the law.
The newer states were not asked for their legislative position on the proposal.
The newer states did not protest this position.
All of the newer states published Article XIII as having been lawfully adopted.
Even states that had rejected the amendment like New York, Conn. and Rhode Island published it as having been lawfully adopted from 1821 to 1827.
As you know Mr. Silversmith. The introduction of the need for Louisiana and the newer states to have been included in the vote was made a part of the federal records in 1940. All records prior to that date, to include the federal governments own records of 1911, confirmed and held that the adoption of the amendment only required 13 votes from the 17 states in the union in 1810.
This constitutes 128 years of legal precedence. Your opinion and assertion that the newer states should have been included, fly’s in the face of this legal precedence and infers that all of our politicians and government leaders from 1810 to 1827 were inept at interpreting and applying Constitutional law and federal procedures of that time.
The truth is Mr. Silversmith, that F.D.R. and his band of socialist’s were on a mission to change American history from 1933 forward. They setup massive projects just for that purpose. Leaving no stone unturned, the newer version of reality with regard to the newer states was added to the records. Under this project many records were destroyed and altered. One document that under went this process was a copy of an 1833 Constitution from, I believe, the state of Virginia, which shows the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments affixed.
I submit that the Titles of Nobility amendment was lawfully adopted on March 12, 1819 and no further action on the part of the federal government and the states is required except for the announcement of said reality.
One last point of fact. Lawyers would not lose their citizenship under this law. The designation of Esquire is not a title of nobility or honor. It is simply a designation of one who has been schooled in the art of law. No different then that of Doctor, or Engineer. It is unfortunate that this falsehood made its way to the internet some years ago.
Stanley I. Evans, August 2, 2010


