The Fourteenth Amendment

From Political Principle to Judicial Doctrine

William E. Nelson

  • Winner of the Littleton-Griswold Award of the American Historical Association
In a remarkably fresh and historically grounded reinterpretation of the American Constitution, William Nelson argues that the fourteenth amendment was written to affirm the general public's long-standing rhetorical commitment to the principles of equality and individual rights on the one hand, and to the principle of local self-rule on the other.

William E. Nelson is Professor of Law and History, New York University.