Description
Book SynopsisNine essays which examine constitutional issues at different points in American political history to explain how the constitutional issues resulting in the Civil War were central to politics for a long time before and after the actual conflict. Treats the period from the 1780s through the 1920s.
Trade Review"Constitutionalism in the Approach and Aftermath of the Civil War is a stunning collection, one worthy of the attention of everyone with an interest in the political questions surrounding the nature and extent of constitutionalism in the American republic. Paul Moreno and Johnathan O'Neill have assembled a stellar group of essayists whose contributions both broaden and deepen our understanding of this important issue. It is also altogether fittting that such a superb collection should be dedicated to one of the nation's most distinguished constitutionalists, Professor Herman Belz." -- Gary McDowell University of Richmond "This important book doesn't consider the Civil War in isolation but links up the war with the great constitutional questions of the Revolution and the Progressive Era. It is a valuable and original contribution to the field of legal history and American history more broadly." -- -Daniel W. Hamilton University of Illinois College of Law "The Civil War has not usually been studied as a constitutional conflict. Yet it was a constitutional struggle, fully as much as a military one, from the first clangor of secession to the postwar controversies over confiscation, treason, and military tribunals. And on any of those points, it was a war which could be lost as easily by the change of one vote on the Supreme Court as it could by one change of outcome in a battle.These issues have been given a new life by the way they have resurfaced in the War on Terror, and this masterful collection of essays not onloy illuminates them with never-before-seen historical research, but skilfully links the constitutionalism of the Civil War era with modern debates and concepts of the Constitution." -- -Allen C. Guelzo Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era, Gettysburg College
Table of ContentsIntroduction Paul D. Moreno and Johnathan O'Neill Prologue: A Second American Revolution? George Washington and the Origins of the Civil War Jeffry H. Morrison Part I Constitutionalism Endangered: The Road to Civil War 1 Martin Van Buren as Statesman:State Rights and the Rise of the "Free Soil" Party Christian Esh 2 Lincoln on Black Citizenship Joseph R. Fornieri 3 Lincoln, Secession, and Revolution: The Civil War Challenge to the Founding Herman Belz Part II Legal Change and Constitutional Politics in Reconstruction and the Gilded Age 4 The Trial of Jeff erson Davis and the Americanization of Treason Law Jonathan W. White 5 At Every Fireside: Constitutional Politics in the Era of Reconstruction Michael Les Benedict 6 "The Legitimate Object of Government": Constitutional Problems of Civil War-Era Republican Policy Paul D. Moreno Part III Contesting the Legacy of Lincoln and the Civil War in the Progressive Era 7 Woodrow Wilson and the Meaning of the Lincoln Legacy Ronald J. Pestritto 8 The Idea of Constitutional Conservatism in the Early Twentieth Century Johnathan O'Neill Notes List of Contributors Index
