Clark D. Cunningham & Jesse Egbert, Scientific Methods for Analyzing Original Meaning: Corpus Linguistics and the Emoluments Clauses

This paper was published on the Social Science Research Network on February 12, 2019 and can be downloaded at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3321438
It can also be downloaded directly from this website: click here

The research described in this paper was submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on January 29, 2019, as a friend of the court (amicus) brief in support of neither party, in the case of In Re Trump, Case No. 18-2486 [appeal from District of Columbia v Trump, 315 F.Supp.3d 875 (D.Md. 2018)]. Oral argument was held on March 19, 2019. Download amicus brief as pdf. On July 10, 2019, the court of appeals issued a decision reversing the district court on the issue of standing and ordered the case to be dismissed without addressing the President's motion to dismiss on the grounds that revenue from the Trump Hotel was not an "emolument" within the meaning of the Constitution. In re Trump, No. 18-2486, __ F.3d ___, 2019 WL 2998602 (4th Cir. July 10, 2019).

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Table of Contents

Introduction
History of the Emoluments Clauses
The Trump Presidency
Introduction to Corpus Linguistics Methods
Analysis One: emolument with a pre-modifying adjective or post-modifying prepositional phrase
Analysis Two: coordinated phrases
Analysis Three: emolument with receive or accept

Appendix

Result of searching for "emolument*" in the Corpus of Historical American English
Chart listing 24 examples of “profit” and/or “emolument”
Chart listing all 69 cases of “other emolument”
Chart of all 137 cases of “emolument” with “receive”
Chart of all 12 cases of “emolument” with “accept”
Chart of all 11 cases of unmodified “emolument” with receive/accept

Original Texts:
Example 1: Alexander Hamilton to John Davidson, 13 April 1793. 14 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON (Harold C. Syrett 1969), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-14-02-0208
Example 2: Appendix to the History of Congress, 8 Annals of Cong. 1569-1570 (1798-1799)
Example 3: Appendix to the History of the Fifth Congress, 9 Annals of Cong. 3914 (1798-1799)
Example 4: Form of Commission to Deputy Attorney Generals(1779) 3 THE PAPERS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 21 (Julian P. Boyd ed. 1951), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-03-02-0025
Example 5: Reply to Vindex Patriae on American Representation in Parliament, THE GAZETTEER (Jan 29, 1776), 13 THE PAPERS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 63-66
(Leonard W. Labaree ed. 1969), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-13-02-0022
Example 6: To George Washington from William Mumford, 9 May 1789, May 9th, 1789, 2 THE PAPERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON 240-242 (Dorothy Twohig ed.1987), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-02-02-0179
Example 7: 20 JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 766 (1781)
Example 8: 9 JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 986-987 (1777)
Example 9: 15 JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 1307 (1779)
Example 10: Leonard Cooper to Virginia Delegates, 22 June 1781, 3 THE PAPERS OF JAMES MADISON 166-167 (William T. Hutchinson & William M. E. Rachal eds. 1963), available at
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-03-02-0085
Example 11: To Thomas Jefferson from George Muter, 6 March 1781, 5 THE PAPERS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 78-80 (Julian P. Boyd ed. 1952), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-05-02-0103
Example 12: 29 JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 635 (1785)
Example 13: George Friedrich von Martens, SUMMARY OF THE LAW OF NATIONS (Philadelphia 1795) (original text image not available)
Example 14: From George Washington to John Adams, July 13, 1798, 2 THE PAPERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, RETIREMENT SERIES 402-404 (W. W. Abbot ed.
1998), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-02-02-0314
Example 15: Pelatiah Webster, POLITICAL ESSAYS ON THE NATURE AND OPERATION OF MONEY, PUBLIC FINANCES, AND OTHER SUBJECTS: PUBLISHED DURING THE
AMERICAN WAR, AND CONTINUED UP TO THE PRESENT YEAR, 1791 (original text image not available)
Example 16: To George Washington from Alexander Hamilton, March 1, 1782, 3 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON 5-6 (Harold C. Syrett ed. 1962), available
at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-03-02-0006
Example 17: 29 JOURNALS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 635 (1785)
Example 18: To Alexander Hamilton from William Ellery, July 18, 1791, 8 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON 553-554 (Harold C. Syrett ed. 1965), available at
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-08-02-0501
Example 19: James Smith to the Commissioners, August 24, 1778, 6 THE ADAMS PAPERS, PAPERS OF JOHN ADAMS 389-392 (Robert J. Taylor ed. 1983), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-06-02-0299
Example 20:To George Washington from James McHenry, March 31, 1799, 3 THE PAPERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, RETIREMENT SERIES 453-458 (W. W.Abbot and Edward G. Lengel. eds. 1999), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-03-02-0345
Example 21: Prospectus of the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (Philadelphia, Aug. 1791), 9 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON 144-53
(Harold C. Syrett, ed., 1965), available at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-09-02-0114   
Example 22: [General] Nathanael Greene to His Excellency The President of Congress (Newport, Aug. 22, 1785), 10 THE PAPERS OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON 421- 28 (Harold C. Syrett, ed., 1966) https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-10-02-0060-0002

Text images of all eleven cases of unmodified “emolument” with “receive/accept”