Constitutionalism in the Approach and Aftermath of the Civil War

Name: Constitutionalism in the Approach and Aftermath of the Civil War
SKU: 9780823251940
Price: 45.00 USD

Paul D. Moreno and Johnathan O'Neill

The North's Civil War

Pages: 288

Hardback

ISBN: 9780823251940

Published: 01 August 2013

$45.00

Fordham University Press

Description

The irreducibly constitutional nature of the Civil War’s prelude and legacy is the focus of this absorbing collection of nine essays by a diversity of political theorists and historians. The contributors examine key constitutional developments leading up to the war, the crucial role of Abraham Lincoln’s statesmanship, and how the constitutional aspects of the war and Reconstruction endured in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This thoughtful, informative volume covers a wide range of topics: from George Washington’s conception of the Union and his fears for its future to Martin Van Buren’s state-centered, anti-secessionist federalism; from Lincoln’s approach to citizenship for African Americans to Woodrow Wilson’s attempt to appropriate Lincoln for the goals of Progressivism. Each essay zeroes in on the constitutional causes or consequences of the war and emphasizes how constitutional principles shape political activity. Accordingly, important figures, disputes, and judicial decisions are placed within the broader context of the constitutional system to explain how ideas and institutions, independently and in dialogue with the courts, have oriented political action and shaped events over time.

Praise

“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

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

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

Author(s)

Paul D. Moreno is the William and Berniece Grewcock Chair in the American Constitution and is the Dean of Faculty at Hillsdale College. He is the author of From Direct Actionto Affirmative Action: Fair Employment Law and Policy in America, and Black Americans and Organized Labor: A New History, both published by Louisiana State University Press. He has written A Concise History of the American Constitution for the National Association of Scholars. He completed his PhD under the direction of Herman Belz at the University of Maryland in 1994.

Johnathan O’Neill is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of History at Georgia Southern University. He is the author of Originalism in American Law and Politics: A Constitutional History (2005) and co-editor (with Gary L. McDowell) of a multiauthor essay collection, America and Enlightenment Constitutionalism (2006). His articles have appeared in the Review of Politics, the Modern Law Review, and the Northwestern University Law Review. His current research is on “Constitutionalism and American Conservatism in the Twentieth Century,” and articles related to this project have been published in the Journal of Church and State, Rethinking History: The Journal of Theory and Practice, and The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms. He completed his PhD under the direction of Herman Belz at the University of Maryland in 2000.