Show duelists barred from office in many states south carolina has a provision in its constitution requiring a man taking oath of office to declare that he had not challenged anyone to a duel nor fought a duel since being nomi bated virginia required an oath of this kind until 1028 when this particular provision was eliminated other states have in their constitutions sections forbidding office holders or legislators to participate in dueling while the practice of dueling has been practically dead in this country for many years there wag a time when it was most popular particularly among legislators henry clay of kentucky fought two famous duels one with john randolph A kentucky congressman named graves fought and lai cd a maine congressman named calley in 1838 political arguments a hundred years ago often ended in chal lenses to duels to prevent scandals of this kind at least during their terms of office many of the states passed laws against dueling bome inserting these prohibitions in their state constitutions and oaths of office |