At stage center of the American drama, maintains David A. J.
Richards, is the attempt to understand the implications of the
Reconstruction Amendments--Amendments Thirteen, Fourteen, and
Fifteen to the United States Constitution. Richards evaluates
previous efforts to interpret the amendments and then proposes his
own view: together the amendments embodied a self-conscious rebirth
of America's revolutionary, rights-based constitutionalism.
Building on an approach to constitutional law developed in his
"Toleration and the Constitution" and "Foundations of American
Constitutionalism," Richards links history, law, and political
theory. In "Conscience and the Constitution," this method leads
from an analysis of the Reconstruction Amendments to a broad
discussion of the American constitutional system as a whole.
Richards's interpretation focuses on the abolitionists and their
radical commitment to the "dissenting conscience." In his view, the
Reconstruction Amendments expressed not only the constitutional
arguments of a particular historical period but also a general
political theory developed by the abolitionists, who restructured
the American political community in terms of respect for universal
human rights. He argues further that the amendments make a claim on
our generation to keep faith with the vision of the "founders of
1865." In specific terms he points out what such allegiance would
mean in the context of present-day constitutional issues.
Originally published in 1993.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand
technology to again make available previously out-of-print books
from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press.
These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these
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thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since
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