| Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil Contributor(s): Graber, Mark A. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0521728576 ISBN-13: 9780521728577 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $28.49 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: March 2008 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Slavery - Law | Legal History - Social Science | Ethnic Studies - African American Studies |
| Dewey: 342.730 |
| Series: Cambridge Studies on the American Constitution |
| Physical Information: 0.59" H x 6.14" W x 9.21" (0.87 lbs) 280 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Chronological Period - 1800-1850 |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil concerns what is entailed by pledging allegiance to a constitutional text and tradition saturated with concessions to evil. The Constitution of the United States was originally understood as an effort to mediate controversies between persons who disputed fundamental values, and did not offer a vision of the good society. In order to form a "more perfect union" with slaveholders, late-eighteenth-century citizens fashioned a constitution that plainly compelled some injustices and was silent or ambiguous on other questions of fundamental right. This constitutional relationship could survive only as long as a bisectional consensus was required to resolve all constitutional questions not settled in 1787. Dred Scott challenges persons committed to human freedom to determine whether antislavery northerners should have provided more accommodations for slavery than were constitutionally strictly necessary or risked the enormous destruction of life and property that preceded Lincoln's new birth of freedom. |