A NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM

by Charles L. Black Jr.

"Many . . . unwritten rights are somehow inherent in the American scheme of democracy. So where do these freedoms come from? . . . One of the nation`s most venerated thinkers about such matters offers a provocative and refreshing way to answer that question."―Neil A. Lewis, New York Times Book Review

"An appealing interpretation of the founding papers."―Michael G. Radigan, New York Law Journal

"A remarkably interesting book. It offers a way of looking at the Constitution that I had not thought about before."―Sanford Levinson, School of Law, University of Texas at Austin

One of the most respected scholars of constitutional law here argues for a national commitment to human rights based on his interpretation of three critical the Declaration of Independence, the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution, and the "citizenship" and "privileges and immunities" clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The book presents a powerful case for reviewing and renewing the basis of our most important human rights.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction

199 pages, Paperback

First published June 2, 1997

About the author

Charles Lund Black, Jr. was an American scholar of constitutional law, which he taught as professor of law from 1947 to 1999.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles...

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Charles Black has written a polemic that falls flat in its ambition, which is to change the way that Americans think about what the Declaration of Independence and Constitution actually commit the USA to doing. Instead of a project of individual liberty Black wants it to become a project for human rights, where human rights do not have to respect property and liberty rights. He makes a very poor case that there are a host of human rights embedded (penumbra, anyone?) in the founding documents. What he wants to see, he sees, and where he needs to stretch, he stretches beyond the point of breaking. His basic argument is that if you are poor, perhaps homeless, you have lost your ability to exercise your rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He never even makes the simple arguments that clearly refute even a simpleton foundation for such "rights" - e.g. that an American can drive off into the wilderness with his clunker and the clothes on his or her back and find himself at the end of a road with nothing to eat or drink and no home, and claiming a 'right' to housing and an income is of course totally fruitless and pointless, but he still has the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I can see why Black would want to tie his agenda of a wish for human rights to America's founding documents, since they gain some legitimacy in doing so. He fails, however, to connect those dots with law or logic.