eBook

Looking for rights in all the wrong places

Zackin, Emily

2013

Overview

Unlike many national constitutions, which contain explicit positive rights to such things as education, a living wage, and a healthful environment, the U.S. Bill of Rights appears to contain only a long list of prohibitions on government. American constitutional rights, we are often told, protect people only from an overbearing government, but give no explicit guarantees of governmental help. Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places argues that we have fundamentally misunderstood the American rights tradition. The United States actually has a long history of enshrining positive rights in its constitutional law, but these rights have been overlooked simply because they are not in the federal Constitution. Emily Zackin shows how they instead have been included in America's state constitutions, in large part because state governments, not the federal government, have long been primarily responsible for crafting American social policy. Although state constitutions, seemingly mired in trivial detail, can look like pale imitations of their federal counterpart, they have been sites of serious debate, reflect national concerns, and enshrine choices about fundamental values. Zackin looks in depth at the history of education, labor, and environmental reform, explaining why America's activists targeted state constitutions in their struggles for government protection from the hazards of life under capitalism. Shedding much-needed light on the variety of reasons that activists pursued the creation of new state-level rights, Looking for Rights in All the Wrong Places challenges us to rethink our most basic assumptions about the American constitutional tradition.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Subject: Activism / Amendment / Americans / Attempt / Basic rights / Cambridge University Press / Capitalism / Case study / Civil Rights / Civil rights -- United States -- States / Classical liberalism / Common school / Constitution / Constitutional amendment / Constitutional law / Constitutional law -- United States -- States / Constitutionalism / Constitutionality / Constitutions / Direct democracy / Discretion / Due process / Due Process Clause / Employment / Environmental protection / Environmentalism / Federal government of the United States / Freedom of speech / Generosity / Governance / Government / Injunction / Judicial independence / Judiciary / Labor Right / Laborer / Labour law / Labour movement / Law / LAW / Civil Rights / LAW / Constitutional / Lawmaking / Lawyer / LAW / Government / State, Provincial & Municipal / Legal systems / Legislation / Legislator / Legislature / Lobbying / Of Education / Oxford University Press / Police power (United States constitutional law) / POLITICAL SCIENCE / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Constitutions / POLITICAL SCIENCE / American Government / National / POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civil Rights / Politician / Politics / Politics of the United States / Precedent / Princeton University Press / Progressive Era / Provision (contracting) / Ratification / Referendum / Regime / Regulation / Right to education / Rights / Social movement / State / State constitution (Australia) / State constitution (United States) / State government / State legislature (United States) / State supreme court / States / Statute / Statutory law / Supermajority / Tax / Theda Skocpol / Trade union / U.S.A / United States / United States Constitution / Voting / Writing
• ISBN: 9780691155784, 069115578X, 0691155771, 9780691155777, 9781400846276, 1400846277