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The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms

byAlison L. LaCroix

Alison L. LaCroix reinterprets the constitutional history between the War of 1812 and the Civil War as an era of experimentation rather than a quiet interval between founding and rupture. Americans debated multiple forms of federalism through conflicts over commerce, slavery, jurisdiction, and concurrent power. Moving from courtrooms and statehouses to newspapers, pulpits, and taverns, LaCroix shows how ordinary disputes tested the meaning of union. The book explains how these contests transformed the constitutional order and created arguments that still shape federal-state relations today.

Publisher

Yale University Press

Publication date

2024-05-28

Format

Hardcover

Pages

576

ISBN

9780300223217