Massive Resistance

American society has long resisted the idea of creating a truly egalitarian society. This was first noted in the early nineteenth century in one of the earliest comprehensive studies of the United States when Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that America's ability and willingness to confront its racial and color divide would determine its very survival. Toqueville's study took on added meaning later in the century as North and South engaged in a bloody civil war, largely over slavery. Closely connected were issues related to the industrialism of the North versus the agrarian economy of the South, the belief that all powers should be centralized in Washington versus the idea that the US Constitution sanctioned a federal system which guaranteed specific rights to the states (states’ rights), and the jockeying by both the North and South for political power and supremacy which had plagued the United States since its very inception

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• Race, racism, and American law

  Derrick A Bell•Race, racism, and American law•1980

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