Who Freed the Slaves?

Download Who Freed the Slaves? PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022620894X
Total Pages : 317 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (262 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Who Freed the Slaves? by : Leonard L. Richards

Download or read book Who Freed the Slaves? written by Leonard L. Richards and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-04-06 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the popular imagination, slavery in the United States ended with Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation may have been limited—freeing only slaves within Confederate states who were able to make their way to Union lines—but it is nonetheless generally seen as the key moment, with Lincoln’s leadership setting into motion a train of inevitable events that culminated in the passage of an outright ban: the Thirteenth Amendment. The real story, however, is much more complicated—and dramatic—than that. With Who Freed the Slaves?, distinguished historian Leonard L. Richards tells the little-known story of the battle over the Thirteenth Amendment, and of James Ashley, the unsung Ohio congressman who proposed the amendment and steered it to passage. Taking readers to the floor of Congress and the back rooms where deals were made, Richards brings to life the messy process of legislation—a process made all the more complicated by the bloody war and the deep-rooted fear of black emancipation. We watch as Ashley proposes, fine-tunes, and pushes the amendment even as Lincoln drags his feet, only coming aboard and providing crucial support at the last minute. Even as emancipation became the law of the land, Richards shows, its opponents were already regrouping, beginning what would become a decades-long—and largely successful—fight to limit the amendment’s impact. Who Freed the Slaves? is a masterwork of American history, presenting a surprising, nuanced portrayal of a crucial moment for the nation, one whose effects are still being felt today.

Constitution

Download Constitution PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 66 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Constitution by : United States

Download or read book Constitution written by United States and published by . This book was released on 1893 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Final Freedom

Download Final Freedom PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139428004
Total Pages : 325 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (394 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Final Freedom by : Michael Vorenberg

Download or read book Final Freedom written by Michael Vorenberg and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-05-21 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines emancipation after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Focusing on the making and meaning of the Thirteenth Amendment, Final Freedom looks at the struggle among legal thinkers, politicians, and ordinary Americans in the North and the border states to find a way to abolish slavery that would overcome the inadequacies of the Emancipation Proclamation. The book tells the dramatic story of the creation of a constitutional amendment and reveals an unprecedented transformation in American race relations, politics, and constitutional thought. Using a wide array of archival and published sources, Professor Vorenberg argues that the crucial consideration of emancipation occurred after, not before, the Emancipation Proclamation; that the debate over final freedom was shaped by a level of volatility in party politics underestimated by prior historians; and that the abolition of slavery by constitutional amendment represented a novel method of reform that transformed attitudes toward the Constitution.

Lincoln and Freedom

Download Lincoln and Freedom PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809327645
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (276 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Lincoln and Freedom by : Harold Holzer

Download or read book Lincoln and Freedom written by Harold Holzer and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2007-08-27 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lincoln’s reelection in 1864 was a pivotal moment in the history of the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation had officially gone into effect on January 1, 1863, and the proposed Thirteenth Amendment had become a campaign issue. Lincoln and Freedom: Slavery, Emancipation, and the Thirteenth Amendment captures these historic times, profiling the individuals, events, and enactments that led to slavery’s abolition. Fifteen leading Lincoln scholars contribute to this collection, covering slavery from its roots in 1619 Jamestown, through the adoption of the Constitution, to Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. This comprehensive volume, edited by Harold Holzer and Sara Vaughn Gabbard, presents Abraham Lincoln’s response to the issue of slavery as politician, president, writer, orator, and commander-in-chief. Topics include the history of slavery in North America, the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, the evolution of Lincoln’s view of presidential powers, the influence of religion on Lincoln, and the effects of the Emancipation Proclamation. This collection effectively explores slavery as a Constitutional issue, both from the viewpoint of the original intent of the nation’s founders as they failed to deal with slavery, and as a study of the Constitutional authority of the commander-in-chief as Lincoln interpreted it. Addressed are the timing of Lincoln’s decision for emancipation and its effect on the public, the military, and the slaves themselves. Other topics covered include the role of the U.S. Colored Troops, the election campaign of 1864, and the legislative debate over the Thirteenth Amendment. The volume concludes with a heavily illustrated essay on the role that iconography played in forming and informing public opinion about emancipation and the amendments that officially granted freedom and civil rights to African Americans. Lincoln and Freedom provides a comprehensive political history of slavery in America and offers a rare look at how Lincoln’s views, statements, and actions played a vital role in the story of emancipation.

Amendment 13

Download Amendment 13 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781534669543
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (695 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Amendment 13 by : Robert Craddock

Download or read book Amendment 13 written by Robert Craddock and published by . This book was released on 2016-06-10 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amendment 13, exposes how prior administrations have mass incarcerated millions of people, 95% are considered nonviolent offenders. Starting with Bill Clinton, the Federal Prisons grew from 24 facilities to now 122. Inmates are forced into jobs in State and Federal Prison Industries operating Phone Rooms handling 411 calls, making clothing, furniture, and electronics and doing the day to day operations needed to manage the large prison complexes on a daily basis. Inmates are subjected to medical treatment being withheld, dangerous, unhealthy and unsanitary conditions, violence, sexual abuse and murder all within the prison system. The average person doesn't realize what is happening. The inmates caught up in this house of horrors feel like there is no one to get help from, until now. In 1860 America was engaged in a civil war that divided the country and went on for years. Overwhelmingly, Union soldiers were white. It was not until May 22, 1863 that the U.S. War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops enabling black men to serve as soldiers. (Black men had been assisting the army in other official capacities such as constructing entrenchments or performing camp duty or other labor since the Second Confiscation and Militia Act of July 17, 1862.) By the end of the war, 178,975 enlisted men served in the U.S. Army as members of the U.S. Colored Troops. Because of this effort, Lincoln and the lawmakers put forth Amendment 13 to provide a prohibition on Slavery, only problem is Slavery was only ended for private citizens, the U.S. Government kept the ability to have U.S. citizens be slaves to the United States. In the language of the 13th Amendment, the sixth word in section 1 is "Except" this one word changes everything. Now, this book will explain why the U.S. Government along with all states has engaged in a practice of prosecuting everything to accomplish three goals: To generate an army of citizens to be forced to work as slave labor, earning a rate of .14 cents to .30 cents per hour. Two, to remove the citizens' rights to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights, (right to keep bear arms) and third, the 15th Amendment rights (Citizens of the United States right to vote.) With Hillary Clinton willingness to lie to the American public, the American citizens need to have all the facts leading up to the November elections. Now with the Presidential race heating up, American citizens need to know the truth and fully understand how this directly relates to the increase in police actions in minority communities and how the law enforcement agencies are increasing under pressure, to arrest more people to meet the demands of the Prison Industries needing Slave Labor to produce goods and services. Currently with this going public, President Obama is left with a dilemma to be the first black president to end slavery, or the first black president to not end slavery, either way, his presidential legacy will be defined on what he decides.

The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom

Download The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 0814782760
Total Pages : 239 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (147 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom by : Alexander Tsesis

Download or read book The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom written by Alexander Tsesis and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2004-12-12 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tsesis explains why the 13th Amendment is essential to contemporary America, offering a fresh analysis of the role the Amendment has played regarding civil rights legislation.

Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery

Download Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : UNC Press Books
ISBN 13 : 1469627329
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (696 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery by : Daniel W. Crofts

Download or read book Lincoln and the Politics of Slavery written by Daniel W. Crofts and published by UNC Press Books. This book was released on 2016-02-13 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this landmark book, Daniel Crofts examines a little-known episode in the most celebrated aspect of Abraham Lincoln's life: his role as the "Great Emancipator." Lincoln always hated slavery, but he also believed it to be legal where it already existed, and he never imagined fighting a war to end it. In 1861, as part of a last-ditch effort to preserve the Union and prevent war, the new president even offered to accept a constitutional amendment that barred Congress from interfering with slavery in the slave states. Lincoln made this key overture in his first inaugural address. Crofts unearths the hidden history and political maneuvering behind the stillborn attempt to enact this amendment, the polar opposite of the actual Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 that ended slavery. This compelling book sheds light on an overlooked element of Lincoln's statecraft and presents a relentlessly honest portrayal of America's most admired president. Crofts rejects the view advanced by some Lincoln scholars that the wartime momentum toward emancipation originated well before the first shots were fired. Lincoln did indeed become the "Great Emancipator," but he had no such intention when he first took office. Only amid the crucible of combat did the war to save the Union become a war for freedom.

Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment

Download Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 0809334259
Total Pages : 187 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment by : Christian G. Samito

Download or read book Lincoln and the Thirteenth Amendment written by Christian G. Samito and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2015-08-24 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long before the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln recognized the challenge American slavery posed to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. A constitutional amendment would be the ideal solution to ending slavery, yet the idea of such an amendment conflicted with several of Lincoln’s long-held positions. In this study, Christian G. Samito examines how Lincoln’s opposition to amending the United States Constitution shaped his political views before he became president, and how constitutional arguments overcame Lincoln’s objections, turning him into a supporter of the Thirteenth Amendment by 1864. For most of his political career, Samito shows, Lincoln opposed changing the Constitution, even to overturn Supreme Court rulings with which he disagreed. Well into his presidency, he argued that emancipation should take place only on the state level because the federal government had no jurisdiction to control slavery in the states. Between January 1863 and mid-1864, however, Lincoln came to support a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery because it worked within the constitutional structure and preserved key components of American constitutionalism in the face of Radical Republican schemes. Samito relates how Lincoln made the amendment an issue in his 1864 reelection campaign, chronicles lobbying efforts and the final vote in the House on the amendment resolution, and interrogates various charges of corruption and back-room deals. He also considers the Thirteenth Amendment in the context of the Hampton Roads conference, Lincoln’s own thoughts on the meaning of the amendment, and the impact of Lincoln’s assassination on the reading of the amendment. Samito provides the authoritative historical treatment of a story so compelling it was recently dramatized in the movie Lincoln. Closing with a lively discussion that applies the Thirteenth Amendment to current events, this concise yet comprehensive volume demonstrates how the constitutional change Lincoln helped bring about continues to be relevant today.

The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution

Download The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393652580
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (936 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution by : Eric Foner

Download or read book The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution written by Eric Foner and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Gripping and essential.”—Jesse Wegman, New York Times An authoritative history by the preeminent scholar of the Civil War era, The Second Founding traces the arc of the three foundational Reconstruction amendments from their origins in antebellum activism and adoption amidst intense postwar politics to their virtual nullification by narrow Supreme Court decisions and Jim Crow state laws. Today these amendments remain strong tools for achieving the American ideal of equality, if only we will take them up.

Slaves of the State

Download Slaves of the State PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452943648
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (529 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Slaves of the State by : Dennis Childs

Download or read book Slaves of the State written by Dennis Childs and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-02-27 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, passed in 1865, has long been viewed as a definitive break with the nation’s past by abolishing slavery and ushering in an inexorable march toward black freedom. Slaves of the State presents a stunning counterhistory to this linear narrative of racial, social, and legal progress in America. Dennis Childs argues that the incarceration of black people and other historically repressed groups in chain gangs, peon camps, prison plantations, and penitentiaries represents a ghostly perpetuation of chattel slavery. He exposes how the Thirteenth Amendment’s exception clause—allowing for enslavement as “punishment for a crime”—has inaugurated forms of racial capitalist misogynist incarceration that serve as haunting returns of conditions Africans endured in the barracoons and slave ship holds of the Middle Passage, on plantations, and in chattel slavery. Childs seeks out the historically muted voices of those entombed within terrorizing spaces such as the chain gang rolling cage and the modern solitary confinement cell, engaging the writings of Toni Morrison and Chester Himes as well as a broad range of archival materials, including landmark court cases, prison songs, and testimonies, reaching back to the birth of modern slave plantations such as Louisiana’s “Angola” penitentiary. Slaves of the State paves the way for a new understanding of chattel slavery as a continuing social reality of U.S. empire—one resting at the very foundation of today’s prison industrial complex that now holds more than 2.3 million people within the country’s jails, prisons, and immigrant detention centers.

The Unconstitutionality of Slavery

Download The Unconstitutionality of Slavery PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 168 pages
Book Rating : 4.A/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Unconstitutionality of Slavery by : Lysander Spooner

Download or read book The Unconstitutionality of Slavery written by Lysander Spooner and published by . This book was released on 1845 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Forgotten Emancipator

Download The Forgotten Emancipator PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107095271
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Forgotten Emancipator by : Rebecca E. Zietlow

Download or read book The Forgotten Emancipator written by Rebecca E. Zietlow and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zietlow explores the ideological origins of Reconstruction and the constitutional changes in this era through the life of James Mitchell Ashley.

13th Amendment Freedom Week Manual

Download 13th Amendment Freedom Week Manual PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : 13th Amendment Freedom Week Movement
ISBN 13 : 9781088025383
Total Pages : 600 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (253 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis 13th Amendment Freedom Week Manual by : Kariem Abdul Haqq

Download or read book 13th Amendment Freedom Week Manual written by Kariem Abdul Haqq and published by 13th Amendment Freedom Week Movement. This book was released on 2022-01-06 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the cornerstone of this manual. It is the foundation upon which all other rights, privileges and responsibilities belonging to Black Americans in this country were built. The 13th Amendment Freedom Week Manual is written to provide an annual celebrations week, during the week of December 6th, that educates as well as celebrates the beginning of freedom for ALL (not just some) American citizens. This manual focuses on the ANTI-slavery movement in America, starting with the Quakers and Founding Fathers, and includes the courageous actions of the slaves and freed slaves themselves. It is hoped that it will give proper respect and honor to the brave souls who, with God's help, unleashed overwhelming powerful forces to break the chains of bondage for four million slaves and their descendents. The manual seeks to establish an annual week long celebration featuring something new to learn each day. It will provide a consolidated system of knowledge that leads to increased freedoms. It explains what freedom means, and it explains the difference between national independence and individual freedoms. On Day One, the manual's focus is on outstanding abolitionists; Day Two, it highlights the basic -forms- of government that may or may not contribute to freedom, justice and equal opportunity; on Day Three, the book highlights the various -kinds- of economic systems that may or may not also contribute to freedom, justice and equal opportunity; on Day Four, the manual provides a list of historical documents that have contributed to freedom; on Day Five an exercise in genealogical research is encouraged; on Day Six, festivities and games are encouraged; and on Day Seven, -Guiding Principles for Reflection and Contemplation- are listed. The 13th Amendment Freedom Week Manual features and highlights the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and is unique in that it also list the members of the 38th Congress, the 39th Congress and the 40th Congress who voted for or against these particular Amendments, respectfully

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Download Model Rules of Professional Conduct PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : American Bar Association
ISBN 13 : 9781590318737
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (187 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Model Rules of Professional Conduct by : American Bar Association. House of Delegates

Download or read book Model Rules of Professional Conduct written by American Bar Association. House of Delegates and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2007 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

The New Jim Crow

Download The New Jim Crow PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : The New Press
ISBN 13 : 1620971941
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (29 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The New Jim Crow by : Michelle Alexander

Download or read book The New Jim Crow written by Michelle Alexander and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2020-01-07 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the New York Times’s Best Books of the 21st Century Named one of the most important nonfiction books of the 21st century by Entertainment Weekly‚ Slate‚ Chronicle of Higher Education‚ Literary Hub, Book Riot‚ and Zora A tenth-anniversary edition of the iconic bestseller—"one of the most influential books of the past 20 years," according to the Chronicle of Higher Education—with a new preface by the author "It is in no small part thanks to Alexander's account that civil rights organizations such as Black Lives Matter have focused so much of their energy on the criminal justice system." —Adam Shatz, London Review of Books Seldom does a book have the impact of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow. Since it was first published in 2010, it has been cited in judicial decisions and has been adopted in campus-wide and community-wide reads; it helped inspire the creation of the Marshall Project and the new $100 million Art for Justice Fund; it has been the winner of numerous prizes, including the prestigious NAACP Image Award; and it has spent nearly 250 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Most important of all, it has spawned a whole generation of criminal justice reform activists and organizations motivated by Michelle Alexander's unforgettable argument that "we have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it." As the Birmingham News proclaimed, it is "undoubtedly the most important book published in this century about the U.S." Now, ten years after it was first published, The New Press is proud to issue a tenth-anniversary edition with a new preface by Michelle Alexander that discusses the impact the book has had and the state of the criminal justice reform movement today.

The Legal Understanding of Slavery

Download The Legal Understanding of Slavery PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : OUP Oxford
ISBN 13 : 0191645354
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (916 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Legal Understanding of Slavery by : Jean Allain

Download or read book The Legal Understanding of Slavery written by Jean Allain and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2012-09-27 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised." So reads the legal definition of slavery agreed by the League of Nations in 1926. Further enshrined in law during international negotiations in 1956 and 1998, this definition has been interpreted in different ways by the international courts in the intervening years. What can be considered slavery? Should forced labour be considered slavery? Debt-bondage? Child soldiering? Or forced marriage? This book explores the limits of how slavery is understood in law. It shows how the definition of slavery in law and the contemporary understanding of slavery has continually evolved and continues to be contentious. It traces the evolution of concepts of slavery, from Roman law through the Middle Ages, the 18th and 19th centuries, up to the modern day manifestations, including manifestations of forced labour and trafficking in persons, and considers how the 1926 definition can distinguish slavery from lesser servitudes. Together the contributors have put together a set of guidelines intended to clarify the law where slavery is concerned. The Bellagio-Harvard Guidelines on the Legal Parameters of Slavery, reproduced here for the first time, takes their shared understanding of both the past and present to project a consistent interpretation of the legal definition of slavery for the future.

The Promises of Liberty

Download The Promises of Liberty PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231520131
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Promises of Liberty by : Alexander Tsesis

Download or read book The Promises of Liberty written by Alexander Tsesis and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these original essays, America's leading historians and legal scholars reassess the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and its relevance to issues of liberty, justice, and equality. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery in the United States, reasserting the radical, egalitarian dimensions of the Constitution. It also laid the foundations for future civil rights and social justice legislation. Yet subsequent reinterpretation and misappropriation have curbed more substantive change. With constitutional jurisprudence undergoing a revival, The Promises of Liberty provides a full portrait of the Thirteenth Amendment and its potential for ensuring liberty. The collection begins with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Brion Davis, who discusses the failure of the Thirteenth Amendment to achieve its framers' objectives. The next piece, by Alexander Tsesis, provides a detailed account of the Amendment's revolutionary character. James M. McPherson, another Pulitzer recipient, recounts the influence of abolitionists on the ratification process, and Paul Finkelman focuses on who freed the slaves and President Lincoln's commitment to ending slavery. Michael Vorenberg revisits the nineteenth century's understanding of freedom and citizenship and the Amendment's surprisingly small role in the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction periods. William M. Wiecek shows how the Supreme Court's narrow interpretation once rendered the guarantee of freedom nearly illusory, and the collection's third Pulitzer Prize winner, David M. Oshinsky, explains how peonage undermined the prohibition against compulsory service. Subsequent essays relate the Thirteenth Amendment to congressional authority, hate crimes legislation, the labor movement, and immigrant rights. These chapters analyze unique features of the amendment along with its elusive meanings and affirm its power to reform criminal and immigration law, affirmative action policies, and the protection of civil liberties.