The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom: A Legal HistoryIn this narrative history and contextual analysis of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery and freedom take center stage. Alexander Tsesis demonstrates how entrenched slavery was in pre-Civil War America, how central it was to the political events that resulted in the Civil War, and how it was the driving force that led to the adoption of an amendment that ultimately provided a substantive assurance of freedom for all American citizens. |
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... masters had over their slaves did not only involve economic oppression. American society viewed slaves in commodification terms; thereby, the spurious right to own human chattel eclipsed slaves' rights to live free, unmolested lives ...
... masters and amounted to intrusions into the most intimate aspects of their lives. Masters often chose their slaves' spouses, decided whether to separate families through sales, regulated the money they could earn from their private ...
... masters' economic interests. Slaves could not enter into contracts, so their marriages were not legally recognized. Spouses could be separated by sale, or the master could send one of them to work on another of his plantations or lease ...
... Masters timed slave sales on economic considerations. For instance, children who were younger than eight were typically not sold apart from their mothers because, until the child was that age, they fetched more money at the market as a ...
... masters' pursuits.33 The 1850 Fugitive Slave Law attempted to make federal efforts effective against resistant states and citizens. In order to establish title over runaways, live witnesses were no longer required, claimants needed only ...
Contents
11 | |
34 | |
End of Radical Ideals and Judicial Response | 59 |
Summing Up and Looking Ahead | 94 |
Theoretical Foundation | 101 |
Thirteenth Amendment and Constitutional Rights | 112 |
Contemporary Settings | 137 |
Conclusion | 161 |
Select Bibliography | 201 |
Index | 221 |
About the Author | 229 |
Other editions - View all
The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom: A Legal History Alexander Tsesis Limited preview - 2004 |
The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom: A Legal History Alexander Tsesis No preview available - 2004 |