Brief American Legal History in a Nutshell / Michael C. Blumm

A Brief American Legal History is an accessible survey of the law throughout American history, written for lawyers and law students without an historical background as well as for those interested in American history without law school training.

The book begins with the English influence on American law, then considers how law affected the split between two countries; how slavery was a bedrock economic principle by the revolutionary era; how lawyers influenced the Constitution; how the law accommodated the transportation revolution of the early 19th century; and how it failed to avoid―and perhaps exacerbated―the sectional conflict that led to the Civil War.

The book proceeds to explain how the Supreme Court enfeebled the Civil War constitutional amendments and ratified post-Reconstruction “Jim Crow” laws maintaining racial segregation not only of Blacks but also Asians. Also examined is how the conservative Court and invoked constitutional law to challenge efforts to enact wage and hour labor legislation and ratified the “special status” of women while denying them the right to vote, hold office, or enter professions. One of the features of the book is that it surveys common law developments throughout American history.

In the 20th century, the Court(more...)