Taking American Citizenship Seriously: The Recovery of the Fourteenth Amendment
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Description
In this ambitious volume, Professor David R. Upham offers a comprehensive account of the original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment, shedding new light on its often-overlooked Privileges or Immunities Clause. Drawing on a close textual reading as well as a wide range of primary sources—some newly discovered—Upham argues that the framers intended the amendment as a measure designed to strengthen existing constitutional protections for the rights of both human personhood and American citizenship. Upham contends that the amendment secures for all individuals the basic rights to life, liberty, and property through guarantees of due process and equal protection, while also reaffirming the birthright principle that grants citizenship to nearly all born on U.S. soil. Moreover, the Fourteenth Amendment safeguards longstanding privileges and immunities of citizenship, including the rights to travel, engage in commerce, speak freely, bear arms, and enjoy protection from racial discrimination and other forms of civic exclusion. By recovering the Amendment’s original meaning, this book reshapes our understanding of constitutional rights and citizenship, with far-reaching implications for contemporary legal and political debates.
ISBN
1666943851
Publication Date
6-11-2026
Publisher
Bloomsbury Academic
City
New York
Keywords
original understanding, Fourteenth Amendment, Privileges and Immunities, Privileges or Immunities, primary sources, Constitution, human personhood, American citizenship, citizenship, life, liberty, property, due process, equal protection, birthright citizenship, privileges and immunities of citizenship, right to travel, right to commerce, freedom of speech, right to bear arms, civil rights, protection from racial discrimination, racism, original meaning, constitutional rights, citizenship, political debates
Disciplines
Civil Rights and Discrimination | Constitutional Law | First Amendment | Fourteenth Amendment | Judges | Jurisprudence | Law | Law and Politics | Law and Race | Law and Society | Legal History | Second Amendment
Recommended Citation
Upham, David R., "Taking American Citizenship Seriously: The Recovery of the Fourteenth Amendment" (2026). Books (Current Faculty). 2.
https://scholarship.stu.edu/current_faculty_books/2