Heretics in the temple Americans who reject the Nation's legal faith /
Americans seem increasingly disenchanted with their legal system. In the wake of several high-profile trials, America's faith in legal authority appears profoundly shaken. And yet, as David Ray Papke shows in this dramatic and erudite tour of American history, many Americans have challenged and...
| Main Author: | Papke, David Ray, 1947- |
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| Other Authors: | EBSCOhost. |
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
New York University Press,
[1998]
|
| Physical Description: |
1 online resource (xii, 201 pages) : illustrations. |
| Series: |
Critical America.
|
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
Americans seem increasingly disenchanted with their legal system. In the wake of several high-profile trials, America's faith in legal authority appears profoundly shaken. And yet, as David Ray Papke shows in this dramatic and erudite tour of American history, many Americans have challenged and often rejected the rule of law since the earliest days of the country's founding. Papke traces the lineage of such legal heretics from nineteenth-century activists William Lloyd Garrison and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, through Eugene Debs, and up to more recent radicals, such as the Black Panther Party, anti-abortionists, and militia members. A tradition of American legal heresy clearly emerges--linked together by a body of shared references, idols, and commitments--that problematizes the American belief in legal neutrality and highlights the historical conflicts between law and justice. Questioning the legal faith both peculiar and essential to American mythology, this alternative tradition is in itself an overlooked feature of American history and culture. |
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| Item Description: |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-194) and index. Acknowledgments -- 1. A legal faith for the new republic -- 2. William Lloyd Garrison: From abolition to anarchism -- 3. Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Women's natural rights and the revolt against gendered legalism -- 4. Eugene Debs: Law-related socialist conversion, Catechism, and Evangelism -- 5. The Black Panther Party: A study in legal cynicism -- 6. Legal heresy today: Militia, anti-abortion activists, and beyond -- Bibliographical essay -- Index -- About the author. Americans seem increasingly disenchanted with their legal system. In the wake of several high-profile trials, America's faith in legal authority appears profoundly shaken. And yet, as David Ray Papke shows in this dramatic and erudite tour of American history, many Americans have challenged and often rejected the rule of law since the earliest days of the country's founding. Papke traces the lineage of such legal heretics from nineteenth-century activists William Lloyd Garrison and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, through Eugene Debs, and up to more recent radicals, such as the Black Panther Party, anti-abortionists, and militia members. A tradition of American legal heresy clearly emerges--linked together by a body of shared references, idols, and commitments--that problematizes the American belief in legal neutrality and highlights the historical conflicts between law and justice. Questioning the legal faith both peculiar and essential to American mythology, this alternative tradition is in itself an overlooked feature of American history and culture. Colorado Mountain College - E-book Collection / Ebsco Academic. |
| Physical Description: |
1 online resource (xii, 201 pages) : illustrations. |
| Bibliography: |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-194) and index. |
| ISBN: |
058500255X 9780585002552 9780814766323 0814766323 9780814767900 0814767907 |