Reflections on slavery and the Constitution / George Anastaplo.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-305) and index.

Preface -- Part 1: -- Slavery in ancient Greece -- 2: Slavery and the bible -- 3: Hugo Grotius on slavery and the law of nations (1625) -- 4: Somerset v Stewart (1771-1772) and its consequences -- 5: John Wesley and the sins of slavery (1774) -- 6: Declaration of Independence and the issue of slavery (1776) -- 7: Human nature and the Constitution -- 8: Compromises with respect to equality in the Constitution (1787) -- 9: States in the Constitution (1787) -- 10: Federalist on slavery and the Constitution (1787-1788) -- 11: Hannah More and other poets on slavery (1798-1847) -- 12: Suppression of the international slave trade -- 13: John Quincy Adams and John C Calhoun on the abolitionist petitions to congress -- Part 2: -- 1: Fugitive slave laws (1793, 1850) -- 2: Frederick Douglas and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) -- 3: Chief Justice Taney and the Dred Scott case (1857) -- 4: Dred Scott case dissenters (1857) -- 5: Abraham Lincoln in Cincinnati (1859, 1861) -- 6: Stephen A Douglas in Montgomery (November 1860) -- 7: Ordinances of secession (1860-1861) -- 8: Declarations of causes issued by seceding states (1860-1861) -- 9: Confederate Constitution (1861) -- 10: Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War generals, and slavery (1861-1865) -- 11: Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Emancipation Proclamation (1862) -- 12: Civil War amendments (1865, 1868, 1870) -- 13: Lost cause transformed -- Appendixes: -- A: Declaration of Independence (1776) -- B: Northwest Ordinance (1787) -- C: United States Constitution (1787) -- D: Amendments to the United States Constitution (1791-1992) -- E: Confederate Constitution (1861) -- F: On the relations of slaves to masters who considered them "nothings" -- G: Roster of cases and other materials drawn on -- Index -- About the author.

Overview: In this insightful book about constitutional law and slavery, George Anastaplo illuminates both how the history of race relations in the United States should be approached and how seemingly hopeless social and political challenges can be usefully considered through the lens of the U.S. Constitution. He examines the outbreak of the American Civil War, its prosecution, and its aftermath, tracing the concept of slavery and law from its earliest beginnings and slavery's fraught legal history within the United States. Anastaplo offers discussions that bring into focus discussions of slavery in Ancient Greece and within the Bible, showing their influence on the Constitution and the subsequent political struggles that led to the Civil War.