The legacy of St. George Tucker
Subtitle: college professors in Virginia confront slavery and rights of states, 1771-1897
By: Chad Vanderford
Publisher: Univ Tennessee Press
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Knoxville
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9781621902164
Subjects: Philosophy; Law and legislation; Slavery; HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877); Study and teaching; Constitutional law; LAW / Natural Law; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Slavery; Law; HISTORY / Modern / 18th Century; History
Description: "This is a study of a long line of discussions, begun by St. George Tucker and carried out by his sons and other southern intellectuals, about the implications of natural rights principles upon the status of slavery and the relation between federal and state power. While often treated by historians monolithically as universal defenders of slavery, southern constitutional scholars often had surprisingly nuanced, carefully thought-out views, some of which recognized the inherent contradictions of the strong natural rights position expressed in the nation's founding documents, particularly the Declaration of Independence, and the existence of human bondage. The manuscript examines the effect of this long debate on states' rights, Federal rights, secession, the Civil War, and Reconstruction"--
Notes: Based on author's thesis (doctoral -Louisiana State University, 2005) issued under title: Rights of humans, rights of states : the academic legacy of St. George Tucker in nineteenth-century Virginia.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : Rights of Humans, Rights of States; title: Reconsidering the Necessary Evil Argument : Natural Rights and Slavery in St. George Tucker's Virginia; title: The Constitutional Education of St. George Tucker; title: Slavery, Honor, and Higher Education in Henry Tucker's Virginia; title: The Divided Legacy of a Founding Father : Henry and Beverley Tucker Confront Nullification and Secession; title: The Legacy Betrayed : Classic Natural Right and the Emergence of the Positive Good Argument; title: A Legacy Transformed : Secession, the Lost Cause, and John Randolph Tucker's Proposal for the Incorporation of the Fourteenth Amendment; title: Epilogue.