D. Schultz – The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America

Автор: D. Schultz
Название книги: The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America
Формат: PDF
Жанр: История Америки, Австралии, Океании
Страницы: 1233
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

ORGANIZATION OF THIS BOOK
This book is organized in an accessible A-Z format
with hundreds of entries discussing civil liberties in
the United States that should be useful to high
school students and teachers, college students and
professors, and members of the general public. Professors
David Bradley of the College of William and
Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, and Shelley Fisher
Fishkin of the University of Texas at Austin previously
compiled The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in
America in 1998, and this work is designed to complement
that set.
Scholars of the subject know that attempts to distinguish
civil rights from civil liberties are illusory objectives
at best. We take a largely functional approach.
Typically, civil rights issues center chiefly on rights
related to the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment and its application to issues of
race, gender, and related classifications, whereas civil
liberties issues center on rights found within the Bill
of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution)
and elsewhere in the Constitution. Recognizing
that some overlap would be necessary, we followed
this basic division in compiling this book. We have
thus omitted many civil rights issues, not because they
are unimportant but because they are covered fully in
The Encyclopedia of Civil Rights in America. Similarly,
these volumes focus chiefly on the American experience
and some of its English roots, simply because
one set of volumes can address only so much.
ENTRIES
This book contains essays on terms, historical documents
and events, constitutional provisions, individuals
and associations that have been important in the
struggle for civil liberties, legal terms and procedures,
U.S. Supreme Court decisions, contemporary issues,
and the like. Each entry contains one or more references
for further research or reading, and all three
volumes are indexed.
We have been humbled by the efforts of scores of
practitioners and scholars in a variety of disciplines
and occupations who have so generously contributed
to these volumes. Although we originally developed a
headword list for this project, this encyclopedia is
vastly enriched by the ideas of many contributors who
suggested numerous additional terms and essays.
Many are friends, but many others are simply scholars
who have seen our requests for help on the Internet
and elsewhere and who have, by responding, demonstrated
their interest in the subject of these volumes.
We thank all the contributors, apologizing in advance
for often having to impose word limits that gave many
of them far less space than they would have wanted
or even than they might have thought was necessary.
In a few instances, we inadvertently assigned the same
topic to more than one individual. In such cases, we
combined them, crediting both authors, again with
apologies to each.
We also thank our editors at M.E. Sharpe for formulating
the idea of this work, for contacting us
about it, for helping us to publicize it, and for seeing
the project to completion. We especially want to
thank Todd Hallman, Cathy Prisco, and Wendy
Muto, who have all had a part in this project.
We recognize that no list of entries can be complete.
Each year brings new events, new judicial decisions,
and new legislative and executive actions.
Although the protection of civil liberties may, as Thomas
Jefferson asserted in the Declaration of Independence,
involve the application of universal principles,
or “inalienable rights,” human understandings and application
of these rights must be tailored to unique
times and circumstances.
The editors of these volumes approach the subject
from somewhat different perspectives, but both of us
are strongly committed to the perpetuation of civil
liberties in America. We fervently hope that these volumes
will serve as useful reference material to enhance
both knowledge and appreciation of America’s unique
heritage. We further hope that the United States will
continue to serve its historical role as a beacon of liberty
throughout the world.
When asked what kind of government the framers
of the nation had created, Benjamin Franklin was reputed
to have responded, “A republic, if you can keep
it.” The editors of these volumes believe that civil liberties
continue to be a vital part of republican government.
Defense and preservation of civil liberties are
less threatening to the nation’s security than is
the abandonment of these goals. In keeping with
America’s founding fathers, we continue to believe
that American liberties are ultimately American
“blessings.”