Editing Abolitionism (section)

==American abolitionist constitutionalism==
Abolitionist constitutionalism is a line of thinking which invokes the historical view of the [[Constitution of the United States]] as an abolitionist document. It calls for an appeal to constitutionalism and progressive constitutionalism.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Dorothy |date=2019 |title=Abolition Constitutionalism |url=https://harvardlawreview.org/2019/11/abolition-constitutionalism/ |journal=Harvard Law Review |volume=133 |issue=1}}</ref> This vision is interdisciplinary and finds its roots in the anti-slavery movement in the United States of America and is largely based on the tenet that current state institutions, particularly the carceral system, is rooted in the transatlantic slave trade. Some constitutional abolitionists critique the claim that the Constitution was pro-slavery.<!-- I wonder if this sentence can be re-phrased to be a bit more clear, since in the next paragraph it says the original American Constitution was proslavery. --><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Barnett |first=Randy E. |author-link=Randy Barnett|date=2011 |title=Whence Comes Section One? The Abolitionist Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment |journal=Journal of Legal Analysis |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=165–263 |doi=10.1093/jla/3.1.165 |issn=1946-5319|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Radical abolitionist constitutionalism calls for the idea of dignity and the use of jurisprudence to address social inequalities.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Malkani |first=Bharat |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317054436 |title=Slavery and the Death Penalty: A Study in Abolition |date=2018-05-16 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-60930-0 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |doi=10.4324/9781315609300}}</ref>

Whereas the original U.S. Constitution was pro-slavery, the [[Reconstruction Amendments]] can be seen as a compromise for freedom, without allowing for the full abolition. Criminal punishment was a major way that Southern states maintained the exploitation of black labour and effectively nullified the Reconstruction Amendments. This was done namely through Black Codes, harsh vagrancy laws, apprenticeship laws and extreme punishment for black people.<ref name=":0" /> The Reconstruction Amendments in their aim to promote citizenship and emancipation are believed by these thinkers to still be guiding principles in the fight for freedom and abolition.

There are suggestions that a broad reading of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]] can convey an abolitionist vision of the freedom advocated for by black people in the public sphere beyond emancipation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fox |first=James |date=2021 |title=The Constitution of Black Abolitionism: Re-Framing the Second Founding |url= |journal=University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages= |doi= |issn=}}</ref>

Section one of the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] was used by many abolitionist lawyers and activists throughout the North <!-- Northern U.S. states? -->to advance the case against slavery.<ref name=":1" />

Proponents of abolitionist constitutionalism believe the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments can be used today to extend the abolitionist logics to the various current barriers to injustices that are faced by marginalized peoples.<ref name=":2" />

Just like abolitionism more generally, abolitionist constitutionalism seeks to provide a vision which will lead to the abolition of many different neoliberal state institutions, such as the [[Prison–industrial complex|prison industrial complex]], the wage system, and policing. This is tied to a belief that white supremacy is woven into the fabric of legal state institutions.<ref name=":0" />

Radical abolitionists are often marginalized. There is a belief that constitutionalism as a main tenet of radical abolitionism can change and appeal to the popular opinion more.<ref name=":2" /> Historically, slavery abolitionists have had to use the public meaning of Constitutional terms in order<!-- delete or add to 'in order'? --> in their fight against slavery.<ref name=":1" /> Constitutional abolitionists are generally in favour of incremental changes that follow the principles of the Reconstructive Amendments.<ref name=":0" />

There are debates among abolitionists, where some claim that the Constitution ought not to be treated as an abolitionist text, as it is rather used as a legal tool by the state to deny freedoms to marginalized communities; and that contemporary abolitionist work cannot be done by relying on the constitutional texts. Some argue that the narrative and scholarly literature around Reconstruction Amendments is not coherent regarding their original aims.<ref name=":0" />