| Description |
1 online resource (xix, 248 pages) : illustrations |
| Series |
Studies in Legal History |
|
Studies in legal history.
|
| Contents |
Introduction: Rights of colored men: Debating citizenship in antebellum America -- Being a native, and free born: race and rights in Baltimore -- Threats of removal: colonization, emigration, and the borders of belonging -- Aboard the Constitution: black sailors and citizenship at sea -- The city courthouse: everyday scenes of race and law -- Between the Constitution and the discipline of the church: making congregants citizens -- By virtue of unjust laws: black laws as the performance of rights -- To sue and be sued: courthouse claims and the contours of citizenship -- Confronting Dred Scott: seeing citizenship from Baltimore City -- Conclusion: Rehearsals for Reconstruction: new citizens in a new era -- Epilogue: monuments to men |
| Summary |
"Birthright Citizens tells how African American activists transformed the terms of citizenship for all Americans. Before the Civil War, colonization schemes and raced-based laws threatened to deport former slaves born in United States. Birthright Citizens recovers the story of how African American activists remade national belonging through battles in legislatures, conventions, and courthouses. They faced formidable opposition, most notoriously from the US Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott. Still, Martha Jones explains, no single case defined their status. Former slaves studied law, secured allies, and conducted themselves like citizens, establishing their status through local, everyday claims. All along they argued that birth guaranteed their rights. With fresh archival sources and an ambitious reframing of constitutional lawmaking before the Civil War, Jones shows how, when the Fourteenth Amendment constitutionalized the bithright principle, black Americans' aspirations were realized."--Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-238) and index |
| Notes |
Liberty Legacy Foundation Award, 2019 |
|
Online resource; title from digital title page (CambridgeCore, viewed August 14, 2020) |
| Subject |
African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc.
|
|
African Americans -- Civil rights -- History -- 19th century
|
|
Citizenship -- United States -- History -- 19th century
|
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Race discrimination -- Law and legislation -- United States -- History
|
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African Americans -- Civil rights
|
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African Americans -- Legal status, laws, etc.
|
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Citizenship
|
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Race discrimination -- Law and legislation
|
|
United States
|
| Genre/Form |
History
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9781316577165 |
|
1316577163 |
|
9781108607872 |
|
110860787X |
|
