"If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive, or retain any title of nobility or honour, or accept and retain any present, pension, office, or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, prince, foreign power, or secret society, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them."
The intent of the Amendment is to ensure that no citizen hold any allegiance that would stand in contradiction to the free and open nature of the United States of America.