The Legal Theory Bookworm recommends Taking American Citizenship Seriously: The Recovery of the Fourteenth Amendment by David R. Upham. Here is a description:
In this ambitious volume, Professor David R. Upham offers a comprehensive account of the original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment, shedding new light on its often-overlooked Privileges or Immunities Clause. Drawing on a close textual reading as well as a wide range of primary sources—some newly discovered—Upham argues that the framers intended the amendment as a measure designed to strengthen existing constitutional protections for the rights of both human personhood and American citizenship. Upham contends that the amendment secures for all individuals the basic rights to life, liberty, and property through guarantees of due process and equal protection, while also reaffirming the birthright principle that grants citizenship to nearly all born on U.S. soil. Moreover, the Fourteenth Amendment safeguards longstanding privileges and immunities of citizenship, including the rights to travel, engage in commerce, speak freely, bear arms, and enjoy protection from racial discrimination and other forms of civic exclusion. By recovering the Amendment’s original meaning, this book reshapes our understanding of constitutional rights and citizenship, with far-reaching implications for contemporary legal and political debates.
And from the reviews:
“Ten years ago, David R. Upham’s work forced constitutional scholars to rethink what they thought they knew about the history of interracial marriage. Now, he has produced the best book yet on the Fourteenth Amendment. Taking American Citizenship Seriously is a beautifully thorough canvass of evidence from the moment that America constitutionally committed herself to equal citizenship. Upham courageously and candidly follows the evidence wherever it leads him and explains compellingly how America can rediscover the original meaning of her most important constitutional anchor to freedom and equality.” —Christopher R. Green, Associate Director, Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society, The Ohio State University, USA
“No serious student of the Fourteenth Amendment can ignore David R. Upham’s impressive scholarship in Taking American Citizenship Seriously. Upham powerfully articulates a distinctive vision of the Amendment, based on a painstaking analysis of the extensive primary sources and a thoughtful and spirited engagement with the voluminous literature on the subject. Whether you agree with all of his conclusions or not, the reader will come away with a much deeper understanding of this immensely important area of constitutional law and theory.” —Christopher Wolfe, Distinguished Research Scholar, University of Dallas, USA; author of The Rise of Modern Judicial Review
“David Upham’s Taking American Citizenship Seriously is a landmark achievement of scholarship on the Fourteenth Amendment that should significantly reshape how judges, lawyers, scholars, and ordinary citizens understand it. Over and against regnant understandings of the Fourteenth Amendment, Upham shows that the meaning of section 1—and, in particular, of the “privileges or immunities” clause—is not vague or indeterminate but, rather, coherent and precise, the product of an original consensus among the Amendment’s supporters. Taking American Citizenship Seriously is a model of legislative history that demonstrates how far the majority opinion in the Slaughterhouse Cases and subsequent legal opinion departed from the Amendment’s original meaning, resulting in a jurisprudence detached from the Amendment’s text. When it comes to interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment and the “privileges or immunities” clause, Upham sets the bar for scholarly rigor.” —Paul R. DeHart, Professor of Political Science at Texas State University, USA; author of The Social Contract in the Ruins: Natural Law and Government by Consent
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