The Antislavery Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment

This title explores the constitutional foundations and antislavery principles that influenced the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The book traces the legal, political, and philosophical roots of this critical amendment, which ensures citizenship, due process, and equal protection to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

This study delves into the motivations behind the Fourteenth Amendment, examining historical debates, particularly within the abolitionist movement, which pioneered concepts like equal protection and due process. These principles gained widespread support through political advocacy, public discourse, and minor and major political parties before the Civil War. The work argues that abolitionist ideas significantly shaped the constitutional language and theories embedded in the amendment. It further situates the Fourteenth Amendment within a broader framework that includes the Thirteenth Amendment's abolition of slavery and the subsequent Fifteenth Amendment, which aimed to secure voting rights for Black men.

The book highlights three major questions about the Fourteenth Amendment's interpretation: whether its clauses (privileges, equal protection, and due process) should be understood as procedural or substantive, whether it was meant to extend the Bill of Rights to states, and the scope of Congress's enforcement powers. By linking these to antislavery doctrine, the study sheds light on how the amendment was intended not merely as a procedural safeguard but as an affirmation of universal rights, moving toward a more inclusive federalism in the U.S.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1951.