America's forgotten constitutions : defiant visions of power and community /

"The U.S. Constitution opens by proclaiming the sovereignty of all citizens: 'We the People.' Robert Tsai's gripping history of alternative constitutions invites readers into the circle of those who have rejected this ringing assertion - the defiant groups that refused to accept...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tsai, Robert L., 1971-
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2014
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LEADER 00000cam a2200000 i 4500
001 861478324
003 OCoLC
005 20181102120522.0
008 131107s2014 mau b 001 0 eng
010 |a 2013034546 
020 |a 9780674059955 
020 |a 0674059956 
037 |b Harvard Univ Pr, C/O Triliteral Llc 100 Maple Ridge Dr, Cumbreland, RI, USA, 02864-1769, (401)6584226  |n SAN 631-8126 
040 |a DLC  |b eng  |e rda  |c DLC  |d YDX  |d YDXCP  |d BTCTA  |d BDX  |d OKN  |d UKMGB  |d WCL  |d CDX  |d COO  |d DEBBG  |d PUL  |d OWT  |d CLU  |d ONS  |d OCLCF  |d OCLCO  |d CHVBK  |d OCLCO  |d STF  |d WVU  |d OCLCQ  |d CUH  |d LRP  |d OCLCO  |d SFR  |d OCLCQ  |d OCL  |d CPO 
042 |a pcc 
043 |a n-us--- 
049 |a VLAM 
050 0 0 |a KF4541  |b .T75 2014 
100 1 |a Tsai, Robert L.,  |d 1971- 
245 1 0 |a America's forgotten constitutions :  |b defiant visions of power and community /  |c Robert L. Tsai 
260 |a Cambridge, Massachusetts :  |b Harvard University Press,  |c 2014 
300 |a viii, 352 pages ;  |c 25 cm 
504 |a Includes bibliographical references and index 
505 0 |a The republic of Indian Stream, 1832-1835 -- The Icarian Nation, 1848-1895 -- John Brown's America, 1856-1859 -- Confederate anxieties, 1860-1865 -- The Sequoyah Convention, 1905 -- A charter for the world, 1947 -- The republic of New Afrika, 1968 -- The Pacific Northwest homeland, 2006 
520 |a "The U.S. Constitution opens by proclaiming the sovereignty of all citizens: 'We the People.' Robert Tsai's gripping history of alternative constitutions invites readers into the circle of those who have rejected this ringing assertion - the defiant groups that refused to accept the Constitution's definition of who 'the people' are and how their authority should be exercised. America's Forgotten Constitutions is the story of America as told by dissenters, squatters, Native Americans, abolitionists, socialists, internationalists, and racial nationalists. Beginning in the nineteenth century, Tsai chronicles eight episodes in which discontented citizens took the extraordinary step of drafting a new constitution. He examines the alternative Americas envisioned by John Brown (who dreamed of a republic purged of slavery), Robert Barnwell Rhett (the Confederate 'father of secession'), and Etienne Cabet (a French Socialist who founded a utopian society in Illinois). Other dreamers include the University of Chicago academics who created a world constitution for the nuclear age; the Republic of New Afrika, which demanded a separate country carved from the Deep South; and the contemporary Aryan movement, which plans to liberate America from multiculturalism and feminism. Countering those who treat constitutional law as a single tradition, Tsai argues that the ratification of the Constitution did not quell debate but kindled further conflicts over basic questions of power and community. He explains how the tradition mutated over time, inspiring generations and disrupting the best-laid plans for simplicity and order. Idealists on both the left and right will benefit from reading these cautionary tales"--Unedited summary from book jacket 
651 0 |a Constitutional history  |z United States 
651 0 |a United States  |x Politics and government 
651 0 |a United States  |x History  |x Autonomy and independence movements 
907 |a .b2231621 
998 |a secnd 
999 |c 107350 
852 |a Law Library  |b Second Floor  |h KF4541 .T75 2014  |p 33940004292098