Convention Supporters’ Myths about State Control of Delegates

By Publius Huldah

Convention supporters assure us that the States will have control over Delegates to an Article V convention.

That is not true.

The Truth is States have no power over the convention at Art. V.  All they can do is “apply” to Congress for Congress to “call” a convention. THIS CHART by Judi Caler shows who has the power to do what respecting an Article V convention.

Delegates to an Article V convention are performing a federal function – they are not under the authority of the States.

Furthermore, Delegates are the sovereign representatives of The People and thus are vested with plenipotentiary powers to alter or abolish our form of government – our Constitution (Declaration of Independence, 2^nd para).

This has already happened once in our history:

At the Federal Convention of 1787, this plenipotentiary power was exercised to replace our first Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, with the Constitution we now have. On February 21, 1787, the Continental Congress called a convention “for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation”. But instead of proposing amendments to our first Constitution, the Delegates wrote a new Constitution – the one we now have.

Furthermore, the new Constitution had a new and easier mode of ratification: Article XIII of The Articles of Confederation (p 8-9) provided that Amendments to the Articles had to be approved by the Continental Congress and all of the then 13 States. But the new Constitution, drafted at the “amendments” convention of 1787, provided at Art. VII thereof that it would be ratified upon approval by only nine of the then existing 13 States.

And the Delegates to that convention disregarded the instructions of their States as well as the instructions of the Continental Congress.

So! Not only do Delegates to a national convention have this plenipotentiary power to impose a new Constitution; the precedent to do so has already been established.

It is child’s play to figure out how to get around State’s “faithful delegate” laws.  This is how to do it:

Delegates can vote to make the proceedings secret – that’s what they did on May 29, 1787 at the federal convention where our present Constitution was drafted.

• If the proceedings are secret, the States won’t know what is going on – and can’t stop it.
• And if Delegates vote by secret ballot – the States would never know who did what.

So!  Do you see?  It would be impossible for States to prosecute Delegates who ignore State instructions.

Is it any wonder that James Madison, and Supreme Court Justices Arthur J. Goldberg and Warren Burger said that Delegates to an Article V convention can’t be controlled?

When James Madison and two former US Supreme Court Justices have warned that delegates to an Article V convention can’t be controlled, it is wicked to dismiss their warnings as “fear mongering”.

Natural born citizen status is inherited – it’s not bestowed by the Constitution or Acts of Congress

1. Neither Obama, Marco Rubio, or Ted Cruz are natural born citizens. At the times they were born, their Fathers were not citizens. Location of birth is irrelevant. Those who insist that a person must be born within the US point to Section 212 of Vattel.  But one must read all that Vattel wrote on the subject and which is contained in Sections 213-217.

A “natural born” citizen inherits his citizenship from his parents. Just as he inherits his eye and hair color from them, so he inherits his citizenship status. He is “born” with the hair and eye color his parents gave him, and he is “born” with the citizenship status they gave him. No provision in the Constitution made him a Citizen – no Act of Congress made him a Citizen – just as no provision in the Constitution or Act of Congress determined his eye or hair color. His citizenship, eye color, and hair color are all inherited from his parents. THAT’s what a natural born citizen is. READ all of the sections on this which Vattel wrote:  By the law of nature alone, children follow the condition of their fathers; the place of birth produces no change in this particular.   In my first paper, you can find the links to Vattel and other original source documents illustrating the original intent of “natural born citizen”.

2. Our first generation of Presidents were all born as subjects of the British King. There were no US citizens until July 4, 1776 when we proclaimed our Independence.  Art. II, Sec. 1, clause 5 contains a grandfather clause which permitted our first batch of Presidents to qualify. They were citizens at the time of the Adoption of our Constitution.

3. It appears that both of Donald Trump’s Parents were Citizens at the time he was born.  It is irrelevant that his Mother was an immigrant:  She came here from Scotland; and later became a US Citizen during 1942 – several years before Donald was born.  Donald is a natural born citizen eligible to be President.  [But because of the doctrine of coverture which prevailed at the time of our Framing, the status of Donald’s Mother is probably irrelevant.]

4. I found another article on this topic which is excellent: http://www.latimes.com/…/la-oe-lee-is-ted-cruz-eligible-to-…

5. Our Country would be so much better off if people would stop spouting off about this subject until after they become well-informed. And they can’t become well-informed until they have studied this carefully using original source documents and read all the original source documents I cite in my first paper.

And you must detach the result you want from your thinking when you are studying. TRUTH sheds its own Light – and you will NEVER get that Light until you love TRUTH above all things including the outcome you want.  I am well aware of the disgraceful cases where peoples’ views on this issue are determined by whom THEY want for President.

Be sure to read the short article in the LA Times.  The law professor author discusses the 3 ways of reading our Constitution:

• original intent (yours truly);
• textualism (the words mean what they mean today not what they meant when our Constitution was drafted & ratified);
• it’s a living, breathing, evolving Constitution which means whatever the Judges, or whoever has the power, says it means.

Which are you?  Think hard about the ramifications of each position before you decide.

Jan 17, 2016

 

Postscript added Jan 18, 2016:

People are confused about the effect of Sec. 1 of the 14th Amendment.  I’ll explain:

There is a difference between:

• a “natural born citizen” (who inherits his citizenship status from his parents by the “laws of nature” alone – like eye color); and

• someone who becomes a “citizen” by operation of a man-made Proclamation or law such as the Declaration of Independence, a clause in the Constitution, or an Act of Congress.

One of the purposes of Sec. 1 of the 14th Amendment was to extend citizenship to freed slaves.  That generation of freed slaves became Citizens by operation of a man-made law:  the 14th Amendment.  So they became Citizens, but they were not “natural born” citizens, because they weren’t “born” as citizens from parents who were citizens.

However, after that first generation of former slaves became citizens,  their children were “natural born” citizens because they were born of citizens.

Sec. 1 of the 14th Amendment has nothing to do with “natural born citizens”, i.e., those who are born of parents who are already citizens.

Sec. 1 of the 14th Amendment has to do with the creation of new Citizens by operation of man-made law.

Under some peoples’ misreadings of Sec. 1 of the 14th Amendment, illegal alien muslims could come here and drop a baby and the baby could later be President!   Our Framers didn’t want that!  They wanted only people who were born of parents who were already citizens to be eligible to be President.   And supposedly we would have standards for deciding who qualified for Citizenship….

From the Roanoke, Virginia Tea Party HERE:

Constitutional Lawyer and defender of Liberty, Publius Huldah, will speak at our January meeting this Thursday, January 7th, 6:30pm at the Holiday Inn Tanglewood.  The street address is: 4468 Starkey Road, Roanoke, Va, 24018

Publius Huldah is a Lawyer, philosopher & logician and a Strict constructionist of the U.S. Constitution. She is Passionate about The Federalist  Papers (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay), restoring constitutional government, The Bible, and the writings of Ayn Rand.

Publius Huldah has addressed State Legislatures on the subjects of Nullification, the 2nd Amendment, Constitutional Conventions and other issues related to liberty and the U.S. Constitution.

You can find her website HERE.

A video of Publius Huldah schooling the Tennessee Attorney General on the supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution is HERE.

Join us Thursday night and prepare to be impressed!

In Liberty,

President, Roanoke Tea Party