The Sources of Anti-Slavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760-1848

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5828705
AutoresWilliam M Wiecek (autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Fecha de publicación2018-05-26
Open AccessSí
TipoBOOK
RevistaSources of Anti-Slavery Constitutionalism in America, 1760-1848 (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditorialCornell University Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.7591/9781501726453
OpenAlexW4302346420
Open LibraryOL51035923M
ISBN9781501726453
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas21
Referencias citadas28

In 1760 the institution of slavery in the British colonies enjoyed undisputed legitimacy.No colonials considered it inherently illegiti mate, although some, especially Quakers in the middle colonies, at tacked it on moral grounds.By 1848 some American abolitionists contended that slavery was everywhere illegitimate, while a larger number, as well as many nonabolitionists, believed that the federal government could properly restrict the spread of slavery into the territories.In addition, many northerners believed that the free states could repel the intrusion of slavery into their jurisdictions.The pas sage from the constitutional world of 1760 to that of 1848, with respect to slavery, is the subject of this study.Antislavery constitutionalism developed from nontechnical, popu lar origins that lay outside courts and legislatures.Constitutional development was (and is) not a monopoly of a hieratic caste of judges and lawyers.It has its beginnings in the American people, and its first expressions are to be found in documents less formal than decisions and statutes.Alvan Stewart perceived this when he wrote:The great secret of successful prosecution of the anti-slavery conquest is yet unrevealed, and where revealed is not believed.The simplicity of means is so amazing, men will not believe it.It is the great every-man power, the one-man power, the common-man power, the unlearned-man power.Every honest antislavery man has the power of converting some of his neighbors to our glorious principles, in the next five weeks by talk ing, by tract, newspaper, or pamphlet.1

Caste · Constitutionalism · Democracy · Genealogy · Political science · Politics · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History · Law · Race, History, and American Society · Antislavery movements · Constitutional history · united states