Constitutionalism in the Approach and Aftermath of the Civil War / / ed. by Paul D. Moreno, Johnathan O'Neill.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Fordham University Press Complete eBook-Package Pre-2014
• MitwirkendeR: Belz, Herman,; Benedict, Michael Les,; Esh, Christian,; Fornieri, Joseph R.,; Moreno, Paul D.,; Morrison, Jeffry H.,; O’Neill, Johnathan,; Pestritto, Ronald J.,; White, Jonathan W.,
• HerausgeberIn: Moreno, Paul D.,; O'Neill, Johnathan,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : Fordham University Press, , [2022]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: The North's Civil War
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (288 p.) :; 9 Illustrations, black and white

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.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Prologue: A Second American Revolution? George Washington and the Origins of the Civil War -- Part I Constitutionalism Endangered: The Road to Civil War -- 1 Martin Van Buren as Statesman: State Rights and the Rise of the “Free Soil” Party -- 2 Lincoln on Black Citizenship -- 3 Lincoln, Secession, and Revolution: Th e Civil War Challenge to the Founding -- Part II Legal Change and Constitutional Politics in Reconstruction and the Gilded Age -- 4 The Trial of Jefferson Davis and the Americanization of Treason Law -- 5 At Every Fireside: Constitutional Politics in the Era of Reconstruction -- 6 “The Legitimate Object of Government”: Constitutional Problems of Civil War–Era Republican Policy -- Part III Contesting the Legacy of Lincoln and the Civil War in the Progressive Era -- Woodrow Wilson and the Meaning of the Lincoln Legacy -- 8 The Idea of Constitutional Conservatism in the Early Twentieth Century -- Notes -- List of Contributors -- Index