The Second Founding
An Introduction to the Fourteenth Amendment

A comprehensive introduction to the meaning and history of the three key provisions in the Fourteenth Amendment's first section.

Ilan Wurman (Author)

9781108843157, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 November 2020

170 pages
15 x 23 x 1 cm, 0.47 kg

'This is an extremely well researched and written book that all Americans should read … Highly recommended.' M. D. Brewer, Choice

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.

Introduction
Part I. Antebellum Law: 1. Due process of law
2. Protection of the laws
3. The privileges and immunities of citizenship
Part II. From Abridgment to War and Ratification: 4. abridgement of rights before and after the civil war
5. The fourteenth amendment
6. Privileges, immunities, and incorporation
Part III. The Modern Era: 7. The past and future of the fourteenth amendment
Endnotes.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND], Legal history [LAZ], Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], History of the Americas [HBJK]