Publisher's Synopsis
In this new publication of his 1960 thesis, Robert Stuart looks back at the historical context for the Fourteenth Amendment and the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education court case. By examining the ties between the Fourteenth Amendment (passed in 1868) and the case that ended segregation (decided in 1954), Stuart suggests how the attitudes toward integration and education were considered to have been present to the framers of the Amendment.
Stuart raises the question whether education was considered by the original writers of the Fourteenth Amendment. To find the complex answer to this simple question, he dives deep into the flurry of legislation passed after the end of the Civil War, through an examination of primary sources from the time.
His thesis explores the following:
- The issues Congress faced going into the year of 1866, with debates to define citizenship and guarantee equal rights
- The discussion of the proposed Amendment in state legislatures, statements from departments of education, and the press, considering the impact of the Fourteenth Amendment
- Reconstruction bills passed in the 1860s and 1870s
- The ramifications of the Civil Rights Act of 1875
- The Federal government's role in executing the terms of the amendment
It is clear that race relations, especially in the arenas of politics and education, are still a major issue affecting society. Stuart's thesis offers a new perspective on a continuing issue.
