Rethinking the judicial settlement of Reconstruction / Pamela Brandwein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brandwein, Pamela.

Series:

Cambridge studies on the American Constitution

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civil rights--United States--States--History.

Civil rights.

Black people--Legal status, laws, etc--United States--States--History.

Black people.

Discrimination--Law and legislation--United States--States--History.

Discrimination.

Civil rights--United States--History.

Discrimination--Law and legislation.

History.

Black people--Legal status, laws, etc.

United States.

Discrimination--Law and legislation--United States--History.

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877).

Physical Description:

xi, 269 pages ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Summary:

"Demolishing the conventional wisdom that the Supreme Court's doctrine of state action killed Reconstruction, Pamela Brandwein unveils a lost jurisprudence of rights and redefines the legal transition to Jim Crow"-- Provided by publisher.

"American constitutional lawyers and legal historians routinely assert that the Supreme Court's state action doctrine halted Reconstruction in its tracks. But it didn't. Rethinking the Judicial Settlement of Reconstruction demolishes the conventional wisdom and puts a constructive alternative in its place. Pamela Brandwein unveils a lost jurisprudence of rights that provided expansive possibilities for protecting blacks' physical safety and electoral participation, even as it left public accommodation rights undefended. She shows that the Supreme Court supported a Republican coalition and left open ample room for executive and legislative action. Blacks were abandoned, but by the president and Congress, not the Court. Brandwein unites close legal reading of judicial opinions (some hitherto unknown), sustained historical work, the study of political institutions, and the sociology of knowledge. This book explodes tired old debates and will provoke new ones"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction; 2. The emergence of the concept of state neglect, 1867-1873; 3. The civil/social distinction: an intramural Republican debate; 4. The birth of state action doctrine, 1874-1876; 5. A surviving sectional context, 1876-1891; 6. The Civil Rights Cases and the language of state neglect; 7. Definitive judicial abandonment and residual expressions 1896-1909; 8. A loss of context: the rise of distorted knowledge about state action doctrine; 9. Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521887717

0521887712

OCLC:

649702281

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description