Birthright citizens : a history of race and rights in antebellum America

The Resource Birthright citizens : a history of race and rights in antebellum America
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Birthright citizens : a history of race and rights in antebellum America
Title remainder
a history of race and rights in antebellum America
Statement of responsibility
Martha S. Jones
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and black laws threatened to deport former slaves born in the United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the US Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott. Still, Martha S. Jones explains, no single case defined their status. Former slaves studied law, secured allies, and conducted themselves like citizens, establishing their status through local, everyday claims. All along they argued that birth guaranteed their rights. With fresh archival sources and an ambitious reframing of constitutional law-making before the Civil War, Jones shows how the Fourteenth Amendment constitutionalized the birthright principle, and black Americans' aspirations were realized. Birthright Citizens tells how African American activists radically transformed the terms of citizenship for all Americans
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Cataloging source
UkCbUP
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Series statement
Studies in legal history

Context

Context of Birthright citizens : a history of race and rights in antebellum America

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