Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-278) and index.
Summary
"Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History, The Amendment That Refused to Die examines the passage of, and assault on, the "Big Fourteen," the post-Civil War amendment to the Constitution that guarantees equality and justice for all people. Howard N. Meyer explores the reaction against the amendment's sweeping reform, from judicial sabotage and KKK terrorism to the "separate but equal" debacle of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. He investigates the amendment's impact on more recent issues, such as institutionalized segregation and police misconduct, as well as the challenges faced by those who would extend the amendment's protective mantle to the interests of labor, women, homosexuals, and legal immigrants.".
"This updated edition analyzes the current attacks on the Fourteenth Amendment that not only threaten affirmative action, desegregation, voting rights, abortion rights, gay rights, protection from the tyranny of the State, and due process, but the amendment itself, the vital heart and guarantor of all our liberties."--BOOK JACKET.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [341]-376) and index.
Contents
A new year and a fresh start -- Politics and the social milieu -- James Buchanan : President-elect -- The President, the Chief Justice, and a slave named Scott -- The heart of the matter : slavery and sectionalism -- Popular sovereignty, Kansas style -- Dog days -- Flush times and an autumn panic -- Northern politics : the parties in equipoise -- Politics as farce : the Lecompton Constitution -- Politics as tragedy : Buchanan's decision -- 1858 : the fruits of Lecompton.
Summary
It was a year packed with unsettling events. The Panic of 1857 closed every bank in New York City, ruined thousands of businesses, and caused widespread unemployment among industrial workers. The Mormons in Utah Territory threatened rebellion when federal troops approached with a non-Morman governor to replace Brigham Young. The Supreme Court outraged northernRepublicans and abolitionists with the Dred Scott decision ("a breathtaking example of judicial activism"). etc.
