How A Typo and A Secret 13th Amendment Led To The Sovereign Citizen Movement

A conspiracy theory that has morphed into something dangerous

(By Sopoforic — Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1547890)

In recent years, law enforcement has had to contend with a growing number of so-called Sovereign Citizens. Sovereign Citizens do not respect the laws of the United States and frequently are without legal documentation. Interactions between law enforcement and Sovereign Citizens are often contentious and sometimes violent. Multiple police officers have been killed by Sovereign Citizens, with five instances of shootings occurring in a span of just months in 2024.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Sovereign citizens believe they are not under the jurisdiction of the federal government and consider themselves exempt from U.S. law. They use a variety of conspiracy theories and falsehoods to justify their beliefs and their activities, some of which are illegal or violent. Their rejection of legal documentation such as Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, vehicle registration and other forms of government identification lead to frequent interactions with law enforcement.

To understand the emergence of the Sovereign Citizen movement that has roiled portions of the United States, we have to go all the way back to the year 1810…