Race is central to American political development. It has been present at every critical moment in political development in the United States, shaping political institutions, political discourse, public policy and its denizens' political identities. But because of the nature of race-its evolving and dynamic status as a structure of inequality, a political organizing principle, an ideology, and a system of power-we must study the politics of race historically, institutionally, and discursively.

Covering more than three hundred years of American political history from the founding to the contemporary moment, the contributors in this volume make this sustained argument. Together, they provide an understanding of American politics that challenges our conventional disciplinary tools of studying politics and our conservative political moment's dominant narrative of racial progress. This volume, the first to collect essays on the role of race in American political history and development, resituates race in American politics as an issue for sustained and broadened critical scholarly research and action.

Joseph Lowndes is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon. His research interests include institutions, language and identity, and U.S. racial politics. He is author of From the New Deal to the New Right: Race and the Southern Origins of Modern Conservatism (Yale University Press, 2008).

Julie Novkov is Associate Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. She is the author of Constituting Workers, Protecting Women and Racial Union, and a co-editor with Barbara Sutton and Sandra Morgen of Security Disarmed, as well as several articles and book chapters.

Dorian T. Warren is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies and a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy.

Race is central to American political development. It has been present at every critical moment in political development in the United States, shaping political institutions, political discourse, public policy and its denizens' political identities. But because of the nature of race-its evolving and dynamic status as a structure of inequality, a political organizing principle, an ideology, and a system of power-we must study the politics of race historically, institutionally, and discursively.

Covering more than three hundred years of American political history from the founding to the contemporary moment, the contributors in this volume make this sustained argument. Together, they provide an understanding of American politics that challenges our conventional disciplinary tools of studying politics and our conservative political moment's dominant narrative of racial progress. This volume, the first to collect essays on the role of race in American political history and development, resituates race in American politics as an issue for sustained and broadened critical scholarly research and action.

Joseph Lowndes is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Oregon. His research interests include institutions, language and identity, and U.S. racial politics. He is author of From the New Deal to the New Right: Race and the Southern Origins of Modern Conservatism (Yale University Press, 2008).

Julie Novkov is Associate Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies at the University at Albany, SUNY. She is the author of Constituting Workers, Protecting Women and Racial Union, and a co-editor with Barbara Sutton and Sandra Morgen of Security Disarmed, as well as several articles and book chapters.

Dorian T. Warren is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies and a Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy.

American by Birth explores the history and legacy of Wong Kim Ark and the 1898 Supreme Court case that bears his name, which established the automatic citizenship of individuals born within the geographic boundaries of the United States. In the late nineteenth century, much like the present, the United States was a difficult, and at times threatening, environment for people of color. Chinese immigrants, invited into the United States in the 1850s and 1860s as laborers and merchants, faced a wave of hostility that played out in organized private violence, discriminatory state laws, and increasing congressional efforts to throttle immigration and remove many long-term residents. The federal courts, backed by the Supreme Court, supervised the development of an increasingly restrictive and exclusionary immigration regime that targeted Chinese people. This was the situation faced by Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco in the 1870s and who earned his living as a cook. Like many members of the Chinese community in the American West he maintained ties to China. He traveled there more than once, carrying required reentry documents, but when he attempted to return to the United States after a journey from 1894 to 1895, he was refused entry and detained. Protesting that he was a citizen and therefore entitled to come home, he challenged the administrative decision in court. Remarkably, the Supreme Court granted him victory.This victory was important for Wong Kim Ark, for the ethnic Chinese community in the United States, and for all immigrant communities then and to this day. Though the principle had links to seventeenth-century English common law and in the United States back to well before the American Civil War, the Supreme Court's ruling was significant because it both inscribed the principle in constitutional terms and clarified that it extended even to the children of immigrants who were legally barred from becoming citizens. American by Birth is a richly detailed account of the case and its implications in the ongoing conflicts over race and immigration in US history; it also includes a discussion of current controversies over limiting the scope of birthright citizenship.

In this abridged edition for the Landmark Law Cases and American Society series, American by Birth is now available in a format designed for students and general readers and includes a chronology outlining the key points in the case plus a bibliographical essay. American by Birth explores the history and legacy of Wong Kim Ark and the 1898 Supreme Court case that bears his name, which established the automatic citizenship of individuals born within the geographic boundaries of the United States. In the late nineteenth century, much like the present, the United States was a difficult, and at times threatening, environment for people of color. Chinese immigrants, invited into the United States in the 1850s and 1860s as laborers and merchants, faced a wave of hostility that played out in organized private violence, discriminatory state laws, and increasing congressional efforts to throttle immigration and remove many long-term residents. The federal courts, backed by the Supreme Court, supervised the development of an increasingly restrictive and exclusionary immigration regime that targeted Chinese people. This was the situation faced by Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco in the 1870s and who earned his living as a cook. Like many members of the Chinese community in the American West he maintained ties to China. He traveled there more than once, carrying required reentry documents, but when he attempted to return to the United States after a journey from 1894 to 1895, he was refused entry and detained. Protesting that he was a citizen and therefore entitled to come home, he challenged the administrative decision in court. Remarkably, the Supreme Court granted him victory. This victory was important for Wong Kim Ark, for the ethnic Chinese community in the United States, and for all immigrant communities then and to this day. because the Supreme Court's ruling inscribed the principle in constitutional terms and clarified that it extended even to the children of immigrants who were legally barred from becoming citizens.

In ""Security Disarmed"", scholars, policy planners, and activists come together to think critically about the human cost of violence and viable alternatives to armed conflict. The book critically challenges militarization and voices an alternative encompassing vision of human security by analyzing the relationships among gender, race, and militarization.

The Supreme Court and the Presidency: Struggles for Supremacy This newest edition to The Supreme Court's Power in American Politics series explores and analyzes the dynamic alliances and tensions between the nation's chief executive and the Court over time. Through primary source and other documents and insightful narratives, this work discusses appointments, prerogative governance, and the role of time and regimes in the complex scheme of checks and balances. Featured topics include: Major theories of constitutional interpretation and their application to the exercise of executive power The political dynamics in the relationship between the three branches of federal government The evolution of executive authority and the struggle over the legislative veto Precedents for treaty-making and executive agreements with foreign governments Executive and legislative relations and powers in times of war and national emergency, particularly after 9/11 The president's authority as commander-in-chief Historical controversies of executive privilege and censure and impeachment Executive authority to issue pardons Appendix with comparative data about conventional and Court periodization