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The Second Founding

An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment

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The Second Founding

By: Ilan Wurman
Narrated by: Ilan Wurman
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Summary

In The Second Founding: An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment, Ilan Wurman provides an illuminating introduction to the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment's famous provisions "due process of law", "equal protection of the laws", and the "privileges or immunities" of citizenship. He begins by exploring the antebellum legal meanings of these concepts, starting from Magna Carta, the Statutes of Edward III, and the Petition of Right to William Blackstone and antebellum state court cases.

The book then traces how these concepts solved historical problems confronting framers of the Fourteenth Amendment, including the comity rights of free blacks, private violence and the denial of the protection of the laws, and the notorious abridgment of freedmen's rights in the Black Codes. Wurman makes a compelling case that, if the modern originalist Supreme Court interpreted the Amendment in "the language of the law", it would lead to surprising and desirable results today.

©2020 Ilan Wurman (P)2020 Ilan Wurman
Americas History Law Political Science Politics & Government US Constitution Suffrage
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