Books Details
Author : Kurt Lash Pages : 328 pages Publisher : Cambridge University
Press Language : ISBN-10 : 22123292 ISBN-13 : 9781306683999
Books Descriptions
This book presents the history behind a revolution in American liberty:
the 1868 addition of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment. This exhaustively researched book follows the
evolution in public understanding of 'the privileges and immunities of
citizens of the United States', from the early years of the Constitution
to the critical national election of 1866. For the first 92 years of our
nation's history, nothing in the American Constitution prevented states
from abridging freedom of speech, prohibiting the free exercise of
religion, or denying the right of peaceful assembly. The suppression of
freedom in the southern states convinced the Reconstruction Congress
and the supporters of the Union to add an amendment forcing the states
to respect the rights announced in the first eight amendments. But rather
than eradicate state autonomy altogether, the people embraced the
Fourteenth Amendment that expanded the protections of the Bill of
Rights and preserved
