Presents
Clause 8. Titles of Nobility; Presents
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, 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.
Presents, in General
In 1871 the Attorney General of the United States ruled that: “A minister of the United States abroad is not prohibited by the Constitution from rendering a friendly service to a foreign power, even that of negotiating a treaty for it, provided he does not become an officer of that power . . . but the acceptance of a formal commission, as minister plenipotentiary, creates an official relation between the individual thus commissioned and the government which in this way accredits him as its representative,” which is prohibited by this clause of the Constitution.1
Resources
References
This text about Presents is based on “The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation”, published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.
[Footnote 1] 13 Ops. Atty. Gen. 538 (1871).
Tables of Contents
- Presents and other Topics in the Contents – Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution
- U.S. Constitutional Law Category
- List of amendments to the U.S. Constitution
- Presents and other Topics in the Constitution Contents
- Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution (Table of Contents)
- Clauses of the Constitution (Table of Contents)
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