The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges and Immunities of American Citizenship

This exhaustively researched book presents the history behind a revolution in American liberty: the 1868 addition of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It follows the evolution in public understanding of 'the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States', from the early years of the Constitution to the election of 1866. For 92 years nothing in the American Constitution prevented states from abridging freedom of speech, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or denying the right of peaceful assembly. The suppression of freedom in the southern states convinced the Reconstruction Congress and supporters of the Union to add an amendment forcing the states to respect the rights announced in the first eight amendments. But rather than eradicate state autonomy, the people embraced the Fourteenth Amendment that expanded the protections of the Bill of Rights and preserved the Constitution's original commitment to federalism and the principle of limited national power.

1. The Fourteenth Amendment: an introduction; 2. On antebellum privileges and immunities; 3. Framing the Privileges or Immunities Clause; 4. The public debate; 5. Post-adoption commentary on the Privileges or Immunities Clause; 6. Text and theory.

Kurt T. Lash holds the Guy Raymond Jones Chair in Law at the University of Illinois College of Law. A graduate of Yale Law School, Lash has served as the Chair of the Association of American Law Schools' Section on Constitutional Law, and his work has been cited by state and federal courts of all levels, including the United States Supreme Court. He has authored numerous articles and books on constitutional history and law; his work has been published by the Stanford Law Review, the Georgetown Law Journal, Texas Law Review, Virginia Law Review, Northwestern University Law Review, and The Chicago Law Review Online. He is the author of The Lost History of the Ninth Amendment (2009) and the forthcoming edited collection of historical materials, The Reconstruction Amendments: Essential Documents.