An Inquiry into the Amendments of the U.S. Constitution

An Inquiry into the Amendments of the U.S. Constitution

Thomas Allen

[Editor’s note: This article was submitted in 1985 to the “Southern National Newsletter” of the Southern National Party. Since this was originally written, another amendment has been added to the U.S. Constitution.]

Does the present constitution for the United States reflect the principles embodied in the original document approved by the States between 1787 and 1790? No, the amendments that have been added to it since 1865 have materially changed it. The amendments adopted before 1865 limited the powers of the United States government and preserved the rights [i.e., powers] of the States and the liberties of their citizens.

The first ten amendments, commonly called the Bill of Rights, protect the liberties of the people by limiting the power of the United States government. The Tenth Amendment is the States’ rights amendment. It reserves the powers not delegated to the United States government for the States. Unfortunately, this amendment is now almost forgotten.

The Eleventh Amendment, which was ratified in 1795, is another States’ rights amendment, but it is the last States’ rights amendment. This amendment prevents a State from being sued against its will.

The Twelfth, Twentieth, and Twenty-fifth Amendments are technical in nature. The Twelfth Amendment, which was ratified in 1804, changes the method of voting for President and Vice President. The Twentieth Amendment, which was ratified in 1933. changes the date on which the Presidential and Congressional terms begin. It also clarifies filling the office of the President and Vice President should they become vacant. The Twenty-fifth Amendment further clarifies filling of the offices of the President and Vice President should they become vacant. It also describes the procedures to be followed if the President is temporarily unable to discharge his duties.

The Thirteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1865, outlaws slavery and does change one of the principles in the original Constitution. However, slavery was a dying institution, and the economics of this institution would have soon ended it. Thus, slavery would have ended in fact even if this amendment had never been ratified. Therefore, this amendment has no real effect on the Constitution because the principle it removed, slavery, would have been voluntarily abandoned anyway.

The Fourteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1868, is one of the three most pernicious amendments ever adopted. This amendment is rivaled only by the misconstrued commerce clause in Section 8 of Article I in destroying the States and the liberties of the people thereof. The Fourteenth Amendment is the foundation of most civil rights laws, forced integration, federal control of schools, and the other miscreant legislation that has extinguished the liberties of the people in their social and political affairs. This amendment legalized the concept of dual citizenship. Heretofore, a person was a citizen of a State and owed his loyalty to that State. Through this amendment, the United States courts have applied the first eight amendments to the States. (Actually, the United States courts do not apply the first eight amendments in toto. Whimsically, they sort of pick and choose what to apply. The guiding light seems to be using the first eight amendments to protect criminals from actions by the States while not protecting law-abiding citizens from encroachment on their liberties by the States.) Also, this amendment disenfranchised most of the loyal political leaders of the South. Moreover, it began the formal conversion of the United States government from a republic to a democracy. Perhaps more than any other amendment, the Fourteenth Amendment has undermined the basic principles of the Constitution. [Moreover, the Fourteenth Amendment was never lawfully adopted. Therefore, it should be given no weight in constitutional arguments.]

The Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments are also blows to States’ rights and contrary to the principles in the Constitution. The Fifteenth Amendments, which was ratified in l870, eliminates race as a qualification for voting. The Nineteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1920, eliminates sex as a qualification for voting. The Twenty-fourth Amendment, which was ratified in 1964, eliminates the payment of taxes as a qualification for voting. The Twenty-sixth Amendment lowers the voting age to eighteen. [Ironically, an eighteen-year-old can vote himself into despotism, but he cannot legally buy a bottle of whiskey to celebrate his vote.] Heretofore, each State determined the qualification of its voters. These amendments deny the States this right. The qualification for voting in most States may comply with these amendments even if they were not part of the Constitution, but not all. Obviously, the voting qualifications of some States would be contrary to one or more of these amendments, or else they would not be needed, Thus, a majority of the States have coerced a minority into accepting their voting qualifications. The coerced minority has been mostly the Southern States. Not only does the doctrine of States’ rights suffer from these amendments, but these amendments add to the subversion of a republic to a democracy.

The Sixteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1913, has done much to destroy the liberties of the people and rob them of their  property. It is one of the three most pernicious amendments adopted. This amendment gives the United States government the power to levy income and inheritance taxes. It is contrary to Part 4 of Section 9 of Article I, which prevents the United States government from levying any direct taxes unless these taxes are levied in proportion to the population of the State. The enforcement of this amendment has virtually vetoed the Bill of Rights. The Sixteenth Amendment is of the envious, by the envious, and for the envious. It is obviously contrary to the basic principles of the Constitution.

The Seventeenth Amendments which was ratified in 1913, has done more than all the other amendments combined to destroy the Republic and convert it into a democracy. This amendment removes the election of Senators from the legislatures of the States and makes Senators popularly elected. Thus, the States are no longer represented. The last check against the tyranny of the majority has been removed. (The Electoral College ceased being a check long ago. It was supposed to be the best men in each State electing the best man in the United States to be President. Now it is a gang of party hacks electing another and bigger party hack who is often a demagogue.) Without a doubt, this amendment has utterly shattered the doctrine of States’ rights and has put the remaining liberties of the people at great risk. Clearly, this is one of the three most pernicious amendments adopted.

The Eighteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1919, is the prohibition amendment. It is contrary to the basic principles of the Constitution and has been repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment.

The Twenty-second Amendment, which was ratified in 1951, limits the term of the President, It makes mandatory the long-standing tradition of no one serving more than two terms as President. This tradition had been violated by a liberal Yankee Democrat. This amendment is in keeping with the basic Constitution.

The Twenty-third Amendment, which was ratified in 1961, gives the District of Columbia the right to participate in the Electoral College. The intent of the Constitution is to keep the District of Columbia out of federal politics since it is the seat of the United States government. This amendment violates this intent and is an affront to States’ rights. It makes the District of Columbia equal to the States in selecting the President and Vice President. Thus, it is another blow to States’ rights.

[In 1992, the Twenty-seventh Amendment was adopted; it had been proposed in 1789 as part of the Bill of Rights. Therefore, it is in accordance with the basic principles of the Construction. It delays laws affecting Congressional salary from taking effect until after the next election of representatives.]

The Constitution as it now stands with its amendments does not reflect the principles for which our forefathers fought in the 1770s and l860s. It does not reflect the principles for which most people  believed that they were fighting in the four wars of this century [that is, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War]. The amended Constitution is completely alien to the Constitution as originally adopted.

The amendments to the Constitution since 1865 have destroyed the basic principles embodied in it to the point that it is amazing that any remnants of republicanism, States’ rights, and individual liberty still exist. The only hope that Southerners have to regain these lost ideals of republicanism, States’ rights, and individual liberty is a free and independent confederation of free and independent Southern States.

Copyright © 1995, 2021 by Thomas Coley Allen.

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