Synopses & Reviews
View the
Table of Contents.
Read the Preface.
"[A] comprehensive and brilliant book from both a historical and analytical perspective. Drawing from the lessons of history, Alexander Tsesis shows persuasively the relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment to a wide range of the social and economic issues currently facing America, and he offers highly creative arguments that support the use of congressional power under the Thirteenth Amendment as a potent and effective means of meeting and resolving these issues."
G. Sidney Buchanan, BakerandBotts Chaired Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
"Tsesis vigorously presents a set of arguments that are rarely found in the conventional legal literature. . . . an interesting and challenging book."
Sanford Levinson, University of Texas Law School
"For those looking for arguments to revitalize and expand the use of the Thirteenth Amendment, this is an interesting piece of advoacacy."
Journal of American History
"...audacious and original. He (Tsesis) offers a blueprint as to how desperately needed reforms...can come about."
Richard Delgado in Michigan Law Review
"Alexander Tsesis's invigorating reevaluation of the Thirteenth Amendment agrees with many Lincoln Republicans that it embraced the Declaration of Independence."
Harold Hyman, Rice University
"This book deserves applause because it illuminates in a new and stimulating way methods for repairing the harm done by racist rhetoric, hate crimes, and the newest forms of slavery."
The American Historical Review
"...a challenging and nicely written book that will teach well."
Choice
"In this interesting study, Alexander Tsesis argues for an expansive view of the Thirteenth Amendment, presenting it as an effort to permanently abolish all the incidents and badges of slavery in America, including both governmentally and privately sponsered forms of oppression against former slaves and others."
The Law and Politics Review
In this narrative history and contextual analysis of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery and freedom take center stage. Alexander Tsesis demonstrates how entrenched slavery was in pre-Civil War America, how central it was to the political events that resulted in the Civil War, and how it was the driving force that led to the adoption of an amendment that ultimately provided a substantive assurance of freedom for all American citizens.
The story of how Supreme Court justices have interpreted the Thirteenth Amendment, first through racist lenses after Reconstruction and later influenced by the modern civil rights movement, provides insight into the tremendous impact the Thirteenth Amendment has had on the Constitution and American culture. Importantly, Tsesis also explains why the Thirteenth Amendment is essential to contemporary America, offering fresh analysis on the role the Amendment has played regarding civil rights legislation and personal liberty case decisions, and an original explanation of the substantive guarantees of freedom for today's society that the Reconstruction Congress envisioned over a century ago.
Review
"For those looking for arguments to revitalize and expand the use of the Thirteenth Amendment, this is an interesting piece of advoacacy." - Journal of American History
Review
"...audacious and original. He (Tsesis) offers a blueprint as to how desperately needed reforms...can come about." - Richard Delgado, Michigan Law Review
Review
"Alexander Tsesis's invigorating reevaluation of the Thirteenth Amendment agrees with many Lincoln Republicans that it embraced the Declaration of Independence." - Harold Hyman, Rice University
Review
"[A] comprehensive and brilliant book from both a historical and analytical perspective. Drawing from the lessons of history, Alexander Tsesis shows persuasively the relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment to a wide range of the social and economic issues currently facing America, and he offers highly creative arguments that support the use of congressional power under the Thirteenth Amendment as a potent and effective means of meeting and resolving these issues."
"Tsesis vigorously presents a set of arguments that are rarely found in the conventional legal literature. . . . an interesting and challenging book."
"For those looking for arguments to revitalize and expand the use of the Thirteenth Amendment, this is an interesting piece of advoacacy."
"...audacious and original. He (Tsesis) offers a blueprint as to how desperately needed reforms...can come about."
"Alexander Tsesis's invigorating reevaluation of the Thirteenth Amendment agrees with many Lincoln Republicans that it embraced the Declaration of Independence."
Review
“Wiggins captures voices normally taken for granted: the voices of African American female laity. Based on fieldwork, surveys, and semistructured interviews, the book reveals a complex representation of thirty-eight African American churchwomen from two congregations (one Baptist and one Church of God in Christ.)”
-Journal of Religion,
Review
“Daphne Wiggins has made a major contribution to our understanding of the religion, wisdom, and social power of African American women. This book should be required reading for church leaders, seminary professors, and sociologists of American religion who often take Black women's religiosity for granted. Wiggins offers us that rare gift found in the finest ethnographic studies, a vivid sense of the inner world of the people in their own voices. I learned something new on every page. A tour de force of insight and lively writing chock full of practical suggestions for improving church life.”
-Robert M. Franklin,author of Another Day's Journey: Black Churches Confronting the American Crisis
Review
“Offers laity, clergy and scholars a fresh angle of vision on the black church. Wiggins interviews contemporary black lay women and provides an empathetic description and incisive analysis of why black women are loyal to the black church. Taking seriously the women's theological reasons as well as sociological factors, her analysis is evenhanded yet provocative. Daphne Wiggins challenges scholars and members of the black church to move in new directions in this new millennium. The book has value for both the classroom and the pew.”
-Marcia Y. Riggs,J. Erskine Love Professor of Christian Ethics, Columbia Theological Seminary
Review
“Wiggins is offering us a legacy, something to help us understand in historical reflection why women are where they are, despite and because of the internal workings of black churches. . . . I am grateful for this important intervention into the study of black womens religious experiences. It offers us yet another opportunity to interpret the religious worlds of women whose lives are often unexamined.”
-The North Star,
Review
“This highly-readable book will be a valuable addition to library collections.”
-Choice,/p>,
Review
andquot;This study of the political drive toward the complete abolition of slavery is most welcome. Leonard Richards has rescued from obscurity James Ashley, who managed the course of the Thirteenth Amendment through the House of Representatives.and#160;The reader will come away with greater appreciation for the courage and skill of those antislavery leaders who never gave up and eventually triumphed.andquot;
Synopsis
In this narrative history and contextual analysis of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery and freedom take center stage. Alexander Tsesis demonstrates how entrenched slavery was in pre-Civil War America, how central it was to the political events that resulted in the Civil War, and how it was the driving force that led to the adoption of an amendment that ultimately provided a substantive assurance of freedom for all American citizens.
The story of how Supreme Court justices have interpreted the Thirteenth Amendment, first through racist lenses after Reconstruction and later influenced by the modern civil rights movement, provides insight into the tremendous impact the Thirteenth Amendment has had on the Constitution and American culture. Importantly, Tsesis also explains why the Thirteenth Amendment is essential to contemporary America, offering fresh analysis on the role the Amendment has played regarding civil rights legislation and personal liberty case decisions, and an original explanation of the substantive guarantees of freedom for today's society that the Reconstruction Congress envisioned over a century ago.
Synopsis
Tsesis explains why the 13th Amendment is essential to contemporary America, offering a fresh analysis of the role the Amendment has played regarding civil rights legislation.
Synopsis
View the Table of Contents .nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Read the Preface . "[A] comprehensive and brilliant book from both a historical and analytical perspective. Drawing from the lessons of history, Alexander Tsesis shows persuasively the relevance of the Thirteenth Amendment to a wide range of the social and economic issues currently facing America, and he offers highly creative arguments that support the use of congressional power under the Thirteenth Amendment as a potent and effective means of meeting and resolving these issues."-G. Sidney Buchanan, Baker and Botts Chaired Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center "Tsesis vigorously presents a set of arguments that are rarely found in the conventional legal literature. . . . an interesting and challenging book."-Sanford Levinson, University of Texas Law School In this narrative history and contextual analysis of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery and freedom take center stage. Alexander Tsesis demonstrates how entrenched slavery was in pre-Civil War America, how central it was to the political events that resulted in the Civil War, and how it was the driving force that led to the adoption of an amendment that ultimately provided a substantive assurance of freedom for all American citizens. The story of how Supreme Court justices have interpreted the Thirteenth Amendment, first through racist lenses after Reconstruction and later influenced by the modern civil rights movement, provides insight into the tremendous impact the Thirteenth Amendment has had on the Constitution and American culture. Importantly, Tsesis also explains why the Thirteenth Amendment is essential to contemporary America, offering fresh analysis on the role the Amendment has played regarding civil rights legislation and personal liberty case decisions, and an original explanation of the substantive guarantees of freedom for today's society that the Reconstruction Congress envisioned over a century ago.
Synopsis
Enter most African American congregations and you are likely to see the century-old pattern of a predominantly female audience led by a male pastor. How do we explain the dedication of African American women to the church, particularly when the church's regard for women has been questioned?
Following in the footsteps of Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham's pathbreaking work, Righteous Discontent, Daphne Wiggins takes a contemporary look at the religiosity of black women. Her ethnographic work explores what is behind black women's intense loyalty to the church, bringing to the fore the voices of the female membership of black churches as few have done. Wiggins illuminates the spiritual sustenance the church provides black women, uncovers their critical assessment of the church's ministry, and interprets the consequences of their limited collective activism.
Wiggins paints a vivid portrait of what lived religion is like in black women's lives today.
Synopsis
In the popular imagination, slavery in the United States ended with Abraham Lincolnand#8217;s Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation may have been limitedand#151;freeing only slaves within Confederate states who were able to make their way to Union linesand#151;but it is nonetheless generally seen as the key moment, with Lincolnand#8217;s leadership setting into motion a train of inevitable events that culminated in the passage of an outright ban: the Thirteenth Amendment.
and#160;
The real story, however, is much more complicatedand#151;and dramaticand#151;than that. With Who Freed the Slaves?, distinguished historian Leonard L. Richards tells the little-known story of the battle over the Thirteenth Amendment, and of James Ashley, the unsung Ohio congressman who proposed the amendment and steered it to passage. Taking readers to the floor of Congress and the back rooms where deals were made, Richards brings to life the messy process of legislationand#151;a process made all the more complicated by the bloody war and the deep-rooted fear of black emancipation. We watch as Ashley proposes, fine-tunes, and pushes the amendment even as Lincoln drags his feet, only coming aboard and providing crucial support at the last minute. Even as emancipation became the law of the land, Richards shows, its opponents were already regrouping, beginning what would become a decades-longand#151;and largely successfuland#151;fight to limit the amendmentand#8217;s impact.
and#160;
Who Freed the Slaves? is a masterwork of American history, presenting a surprising, nuanced portrayal of a crucial moment for the nation, one whose effects are still being felt today.
Synopsis
Who freed Americaand#8217;s slaves? The real story of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitutionand#151;which codified the rhetoric of the Emancipation Proclamationand#151;remains surprisingly obscure in the public imagination. Too often, this story has been told as a mere coda to that of the Proclamation, or as a tale of the Great Mr. Lincoln. Neither is historically accurate or complete. In Leonard Richardsand#8217;s hands, the full story makes for the best kind of political narrative, gripping and suspenseful.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The prime mover of the amendment was James Ashley, firebrand congressman from Toledo, Ohio. An angry and articulate idealist, Ashley pushed Congress, the president, and the country again and again until the arc of justice bent his way. Both a tale of righteous rage and legislative legerdemain, Outlawing Slavery details Ashleyand#8217;s campaign, replete with horse trading, arm twisting, and (maybe) vote buying. With many Congressmenand#151;and, for a long time, Abraham Lincolnand#151;resisting Ashleyand#8217;s demand for a constitutional amendment, Ashley had to engage in procedural shenanigans during a lame-duck session in 1864and#150;1865 to maneuver Congress into finally doing the right thing.
About the Author
Leonard L. Richards is the author of seven books, including Shaysandrsquo; Rebellion: The American Revolutionandrsquo;s Final Battle and, most recently, The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Wednesday, June 15, 1864
Chapter One: The Old Order and Its Defenders
Chapter Two: Lincoln and Emancipation
Chapter Three: To a White and Black Manand#8217;s War
Chapter Four: The Odd Couple
Chapter Five: Hostility of the Northern Democracy
Chapter Six: The Lame Ducks of 1864
Chapter Seven: The Enforcement Clause and Its Enemies
Epilogue: Emancipation Day, 1893
Appendix A: A Historiographical Note
Appendix B: Significant Dates in the History of the Civil War and Thirteenth Amendment
Notes
Index