TERRE HAUTE — So … what was the very first amendment to the Constitution to follow the original 10, our immortal Bill of Rights? Was it about protecting natural rights? Was it about life, liberty and happiness? Was it about allocating power in a republican government?
Nope. It was, in hindsight, a harbinger. The 11th Amendment — passed by Congress this week (March 4) in 1794 — was about lawsuits. Who could sue whom and where?
It started in 1793 when Alexander Chisholm, a native of South Carolina and executor of the estate of the late Robert Farquhar, attempted to sue the state of Georgia for payment of $70,000 worth of goods (a lot ) of money in 1793) that Georgia had purchased from Farquhar, but hadn’t paid for, during the American Revolution. Normally the case, Chisholm vs. Georgia, would have gone to a lower court first — the Supreme Court is an appellate court — but Georgia’s attorney general told the federal judge in the case that because Georgia was a sovereign state it could not be sued by citizens from another state. So the case went straight to the Supreme Court.
There, the result was preordained because Article 3, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution specifically gives federal courts jurisdiction over cases “between a state and citizens of another state.”
What is more, James Wilson, an influential member of the Constitutional Convention, had helped draft Article 3, Section 2, and he was now one of the Supreme Court justices ruling on Chisholm vs. Georgia. Unsurprisingly, Wilson, and three of the other five justices on the court at that time, ruled that “for the purposes of the Union, Georgia is not a sovereign state” and therefore federal courts could hear disputes between citizens and states, including citizens from different states. That meant the case was remanded back to a lower court for review.
It never got there. The year 1793 was a scant four years after ratification of the Constitution — a Constitution that had transferred many powers from the states to the federal government — so state politicians were very sensitive about federal encroachments on their sovereignty. Consequently, state legislatures demanded that Congress pass legislation voiding federal jurisdiction over cases such as Chisholm. Georgia even passed legislation stating that any federal official attempting to enforce Chisholm would be hanged for treason!
Congress got the message and passed the 11th Amendment, which was quickly ratified, stating that the judicial power of the United States does not extend to a lawsuit against any state by citizens of another state. The Supreme Court was so shaken by this imbroglio, it wasn’t until John Marshall became chief justice in 1801 that the court agreed to hear another controversial case. Controversial cases were Marshall’s specialty.
Bruce G. Kauffmann’s e-mail address is bruce@historylessons.net.
History
Bruce's History Lessons: The 1st (11th) Amendment to follow Bill of Rights
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