History of the Supreme Court of the United States

Charles Fairman (1897–1988) was Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard Law School. He was the author of numerous articles and books, including The Law of Martial Rule (1930), and Mr. Justice Miller and the Supreme Court (1939). In 1948 he published his casebook, American Constitutional Decisions; and a year later, he published his classic article, 'Does the Fourteenth Amendment Incorporate the Bill of Rights?'

'This almost-immovable feast will guide and inform generations to come; any serious collection or library worth using will have a copy. Determined readers, blessed with good eyesight and sturdy bookrests, will exploit it as a standard by which to measure others' more modestly conceived efforts.' Harold B. Hyman, The American Historical Review

• 1. Chief Justice Chase; 2. The work of the Supreme Court; 3. Reconstruction – by Lincoln and by Johnson; 4. December term 1865: the current quickens; 5. The Milligan and Test Oath cases; 6. Congressional reconstruction: legislation – the Act of March 2, 1867; 7. Supplementary legislation; reflections; 8. The Court and congressional reconstruction: March to May 1867; 9. The background of further litigation; 10. Ex parte McCardle and Georgia v. Grant, Meade et al.; 11. Chief Justice Chase and the presidency, 1868; 12. Ex parte Yerger, and the close of congressional reconstruction; 13. A union of 'indestructible states': Virginia v. West Virginia and Texas v. White.