MADISONCENTER FOR AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
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The constitutional text

Article I · Section 10

Select any highlighted phrase to understand what it means.

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

Source: National Constitution Center edition. Original wording is preserved; commentary explains historical and superseded provisions.

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202 elements · 219 connections · One constitutional systemOpen the reader
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Article I, Section 10, Clause 1i

No state-created aristocracy

Current text
or grant any Title of Nobility.

What it means

States may not grant titles of nobility. The prohibition prevents hereditary governmental rank from arising at the state level even if the federal government remains formally republican.

Historical setting

The Articles barred both national and state nobility. Federalist 39 treated the continued prohibition as evidence that the new system rested on republican rather than aristocratic principles.

What it does

The national ban alone would be incomplete if states could manufacture privileged hereditary political orders. This state-specific rule closes that route while leaving ordinary offices and lawful honors conceptually distinct.

Debate & interpretation

Formal equality of political status does not guarantee equal social influence or opportunity. The clause removes a particular legal institution of privilege, leaving the broader work of sustaining republican civic life to other laws and practices.

A common misreading

State offices and honorary awards are not automatically forbidden merely because their names use titles.

Think it through

Why is it insufficient to prohibit nobility nationally if states retain authority to create hereditary political ranks?

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Sources & further reading

Original Madison Center commentary. Explanations distinguish the text, historical context, and interpretive disagreements.

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