Synopses & Reviews
“The book is carefully organized and well written, and it deals with a question that is still of great importance—what is the relationship of the Bill of Rights to the states.”—
Journal of American History“Curtis effectively settles a serious legal debate: whether the framers of the 14th Amendment intended to incorporate the Bill of Rights guarantees and thereby inhibit state action. Taking on a formidable array of constitutional scholars, . . . he rebuts their argument with vigor and effectiveness, conclusively demonstrating the legitimacy of the incorporation thesis. . . . A bold, forcefully argued, important study.”—Library Journal
Review
“The book is carefully organized and well written, and it deals with a question that is still of great importance—what is the relationship of the Bill of Rights to the states.”
Synopsis
"The book is carefully organized and well written, and it deals with a question that is still of great importance--what is the relationship of the Bill of Rights to the states."--
Journal of American History"Curtis effectively settles a serious legal debate: whether the framers of the 14th Amendment intended to incorporate the Bill of Rights guarantees and thereby inhibit state action. Taking on a formidable array of constitutional scholars, . . . he rebuts their argument with vigor and effectiveness, conclusively demonstrating the legitimacy of the incorporation thesis. . . . A bold, forcefully argued, important study."--Library Journal
Synopsis
Until 1866 the United States Supreme Court had held that the Bill of Rights did not limit the individual states, only the federal government. No State Shall Abridge examines the issue of whether the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution (passed by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the states in 1868) was designed to bring the states under the provisions of the Bill of Rights. Michael Kent Curtis examines the question from a historical standpoint and demonstrates how the antislavery movement shaped the genesis of the Fourteenth Amendment, thereby revealing that the framers of the amendment did intend to make the states subject to the Bill of Rights.
About the Author
Michael Kent Curtis is Professor of Law at Wake Forest University School of Law.