Valid And Ratified
Sir:
Having just reviewed some of the arguments against the validity of the original Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, I am compelled to respond immediately and with some alacrity.
Just recently, this issue was brought to my attention, in the course of doing research on campaign finance laws and the legal status of foreign corporations and foreign-born contributors. What I did was to go first to the federal repository library at Yale, where I was able to verify the exact wording of the Amendment, and that it was issued by the Eleventh Congress in the Second Session. Everyone agrees on the 1810 date of issuance and the precise wording.
Then, I went to the "Laws of the United States of America, from the 4th of March, 1789 to the 4th of March, 1815 ..." as published by Bioren and Duane of Philadelphia. In Volume One, on page 74, the Title of Nobility Amendment is given as Article 13. The wording is exact and correct, and Yale University has an edition in their Law Library and one in the Rare Book Library. The funding for this edition of our laws was approved on February 16, 1815. The Bioren and Duane was authorized by an Act of Congress. That means that -- as of the conclusion of Congressional business on March 4th, 1815, the Thirteenth Amendment was considered valid and ratified -- and the premiere printers of Philadelphia were retained to print a summary of all U.S. laws and the Constitution.
