Equal Under LawThis book explores the origins of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution. The author gives a scholarly presentation of the evidence, and a cautious formulation of the argument. He shows how these Civil War Amendments were the natural culmination of the antislavery movement, which sought to recall Americans to the conviction that human beings have inherent and inalienable rights, of which no government may deprive them, and that human beings have these rights without regard to race or color. The author also concludes that among men's natural rights are personal security, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, life, liberty, and property, and fair judicial process, and that these natural rights (as well as others) were binding on the state governments no less than on the federal government, and that the state governments had a duty to protect them. Pamphlets and other documentary products of the early abolitionist movement are analyzed to show the history of these Amendments in the political events of the Civil War, in the work of the Republican Party which led to the establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau, and related constitutional changes. |
Contents
Introduction to the Revised Edition 72 27 | 7 |
Introduction to Part One | 33 |
The District of Columbia | 41 |
Copyright | |
17 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
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