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Inventing Equality: Reconstructing the Constitution in the Aftermath of the Civil War

Author: Michael A. Bellesiles.

Inventing Equality: Reconstructing the Constitution in the Aftermath of the Civil War

Author: Michael A. Bellesiles.

$28.99 $7.98
Item #: D13623
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 325
Publication Date: 2020
Publisher: St. Martin's
On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass asked a crowd in Rochester, New York, and asked, "What to the slave is the Fourth of July?" The orator's question remains to be answered: How could the Constitution defend both freedom and slavery? From the Revolution through the late 19th century, Michael Bellesiles traces the evolution of true equality, telling the stori... More
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On July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass asked a crowd in Rochester, New York, and asked, "What to the slave is the Fourth of July?" The orator's question remains to be answered: How could the Constitution defend both freedom and slavery? From the Revolution through the late 19th century, Michael Bellesiles traces the evolution of true equality, telling the stories of those who were fighting to expand the definition of what it means to be an American citizen. Identifying the systemic flaws in the Constitution, Bellesiles explores the role of the Supreme Court and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, to show how equality has waxed and waned over the decades.


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