17th Amendment

[Keith Broaders]

On April 8, 1913 the Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan announced that the requisite number of 36 states had ratified the proposed 17th Amendment and declared it officially ratified.


He failed to follow the provision in Article V which prohibited Congress from proposing any amendment that would deprive a state of its equal suffrage in the senate without their consent.


In order tor the amendment to have been lawfully ratified the approval of all 48 of the states would have been required. Thirty-six states agreed to amend the Constitution and twelve states refused to give their consent.


Even though the proposed amendment deprived several states of their Constitutional right to be represented in the senate, the Secretary of State either made an honest mistake or he deliberately violated the provisions of Article V.


Since the senatorial election of 1914 these states have voluntarily complied with the provisions of the 17th Amendment and have failed to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.


Every legislator in every state has taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and sustaining an unconstitutional amendment is a flagrant violation of their oath of office.


The are currently seven states that have never ratified the 17th Amendment. Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia have not yet ratified the 17th Amendment their Constitutional right to be represented in the senate has been violated. These states have a right and a duty to nullify the 17th Amendment and end the direct election of senators in their states.


Contrary to what we' have been taught the Supreme Court is not the final arbiter of what is and what is not Constitutional. The lawful authority to interpret the Constitution was never granted to the Supreme Court in the Constitution nor prohibited in it to the states is reserve to the states


It is the responsibility of every oath keeper to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and to continue complying with the unconstitutional 17th Amendment is an act of treason.

 

Learn why the 17th Amendment is Unconstitutional

There have been many times when states have exercised their right to nullify unconstitutional federal laws.

• During the 19th Century many Northern States refused to comply with the Fugitive Slave Law.
• In the 1920's many states refused to enforce the 18th Amendment and today;
• Many states have asserted their sovereignty on the issue of Gun Control and the legalization of Marijuana.

Thomas Jefferson in the Kentucky Resolution and James Madison in the Virginia Resolution argued that states have a right to nullify laws that the states consider unconstitutional.

Article V of the Constitution guarantees;

 "...that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate." 

Here are some thoughts on Article V in general from Michael Rappaport and David A. Strauss. I got this from The Constitution Center.

The 17th Amendment deprives the states of the right to appoint their own Senators to this position, thereby compromising the states' right to have a say in the affairs of the states. The idea was to separate power in Congress so as to have balance in the sensitive area of making laws and protecting the rights of the states themselves.

A body politic known as the House of Representatives would be proportioned to the people's voice. The Senate would however, be filled by trusted confidants and appointed by the duly elected representatives of each state's legislature. This would prevent them from being politicians and therefore their loyalty would remain with the concerns of the states' land, water and air and interactions with other states, etc.

This was done to protect the vote of the states from being compromised politically. The Senate is NOT supposed to be filled with politicians, but trusted employees of the state instead, as a check to runaway political power by Congress as a whole. Checks and balances.

The election of senators by the states reassured Anti-federalists that there would be some protection against the swallowing up of states and their powers by the federal government,^[5] providing a check on the power of the federal government. (Wikipedia)

The 41 states to ratify the 17th Amendment have voluntarily given up their right to be represented in the Senate but;

• Utah - rejected on February. 26th, 1913
• Delaware - rejected  on March 18, 1913 

Further the following states have to date taken no action;

• Florida,
• Georgia,
• Mississippi,
• Kentucky,
• South Carolina,
• Virginia,
• Utah

These states have not given their consent to removal of their suffrage and are protected by Article V, wherein again;

 "...that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate." 

 

er>