James Oakes

"An award-winning scholar uncovers Lincoln's strategy for abolishing slavery in this groundbreaking history of the sectional crisis and Civil War. Some celebrate Lincoln for freeing the slaves; others fault him for a long-standing conservatism on abolition and race. James Oakes gives us another option in this brilliant exploration of Lincoln and the end of slavery. Through the unforeseen challenges of the Civil War crisis, Lincoln and the Republican...

Traces the history of emancipation and its impact on the Civil War, discussing how Lincoln and the Republicans fought primarily for freeing slaves throughout the war, not just as a secondary objective in an effort to restore the country.

"Randy Barnett and Evan Bernick return to the primary sources on the origin, drafting, and adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment to better understand its original meaning. Arguing that it protected principles of Republican citizenship, fundamental rights, and civil equality, they propose workable doctrines for implementing these principles in practice"--