During a career as both a lawyer and a Supreme Court justice,
Benjamin R. Curtis addressed practically every major constitutional
question of the mid-nineteenth century, making judgments that still
resonate in American law. Aside from a family memoir written by his
brother over one hundred years ago, however, no book-length
treatment of Curtis exists. Now Stuart Streichler has filled this
gap in judicial biography, using Curtis's life and work as a window
on the most serious constitutional crisis in American history, the
Civil War.
Curtis was the lead attorney for President Andrew Johnson in the
Senate's impeachment trial, where he delivered the pivotal
argument, and his was an influential voice in the pervasive
constitutional struggle between states and the federal government.
He is best remembered, however, for dissenting in the Dred Scott
case, in which he disputed Chief Justice Taney's proslavery ruling
that no black person could ever become a citizen of the United
States. In the wake of the decision, Curtis resigned from the
court, the only justice in the Supreme Court's history to do so on
grounds of principle. Yet he also clashed with Boston's
abolitionists over enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, and he opposed
the Emancipation Proclamation.
In a period when the Constitution was radically transformed from
a charter that protected slavery to one that granted all persons
equal rights of citizenship, Justice Curtis maintained his faith in
the Constitution as an adaptable instrument of self-government and
tried to mark out a path for gradual change. Streichler assesses
Curtis's common-law methods in the context of his divisive times
and shows how the judge's views continue to shed light on issues
that have become once again relevant, such as the presidential
impeachment process and, after 9/11, the use of military tribunals
to try civilians.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!