The Sources of Anti-Slavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760-1848

By William M. Wiecek,

Book cover of The Sources of Anti-Slavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760-1848

Book description

This ambitious book examines the constitutional and legal doctrines of the antislavery movement from the eve of the American Revolution to the Wilmot Proviso and the 1848 national elections. Relating political activity to constitutional thought, William M. Wiecek surveys the antislavery societies, the ideas of their individual members, and the…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Sources of Anti-Slavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760-1848 as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The existence of antislavery constitutionalism has long been neglected by law professors and historians and is unknown to the public. I myself did not become aware of it until I had been a law professor for nearly 20 years! Wiecek’s is one of the earliest books to mark the origin and development of this movement.

Reading it had a huge impact on my thinking. It led me to apply for a Guggenheim fellowship to research the constitutional abolitionists' writings and how their ideas influenced the Fourteenth Amendment, enacted in 1868, to achieve political equality. 

From Randy's list on slavery and the constitution.

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