This book focuses on the post-Civil War treason prosecution of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which was seen as a test case on the major question that animated the Civil War: the constitutionality of secession. The case never went to trial because it threatened to undercut the meaning and significance of Union victory. Instead of risking the 'wrong' outcome in the highly volatile Davis case, the Supreme Court took the opportunity to pronounce secession unconstitutional in Texas v. White (1869).

Citation
Cynthia L. Nicoletti, Secession on Trial: The Treason Prosecution of Jefferson Davis, Cambridge University Press (2017).
UVA Law Faculty Affiliations
Cynthia L. Nicoletti