The second founding :

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Title :

The second founding : how the Civil War and Reconstruction remade the constitution / Eric Foner.

Title:

The second founding :

Author:

Foner, Eric, 1943-

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

xxix, 224 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9780393652574

9780393358520

Production / Publication Information:

New York, NY : W.W. Norton & Company, 2019.

Contents:

Origins of the Second Founding -- What is Freedom?: The Thirteenth Amendment -- Toward Equality: The Fourteenth Amendment -- The Right to Vote: The Fifteenth Amendment -- Justice and Jurisprudence.

Summary:

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning scholar comes a timely history of the constitutional changes that built equality into the nation's foundation and how those guarantees have been shaken over time.

Bibliography note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language:

English

Corporate Subject:

United States. Constitution. 13th-15th Amendments.

Geographic Term:

United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Law and legislation.

Subject Term:

Constitutional history -- United States -- 19th century.

Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877) -- Influence.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	342.73 FON	31330008845202	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Amesbury Public Library	342.73 FON	32114002548098	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Billerica Public Library	342.73/FONE 2019	33934004244605	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Boxford Town Library	342.73 FON	32115002077251	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	342.73 FON	32116003662133	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	342.73 FON	32117002003998	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Chelmsford Public Library	342.73/FONE	31480011291348	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groton Public Library	342.73 FON	37003701835168	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library	342.73 FON	30470001760247	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	342.73/FONER E	31479007338261	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lawrence Public Library	342.73 FON	31549004784871	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	342.73 FON	31481005413401	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Merrimac Public Library	342.73 FON	32125001277844	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library	342.73 FON	31548003271443	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Newburyport Public Library	342.73 FON	32128003826758	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Topsfield Town Library	342.73 FONER	32133002463330	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library	342.73 FON	32135001463534	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	342.703 FON	31990004816208	Searching... Unknown

The Declaration of Independence announced equality as an American ideal, but it took the Civil War and the subsequent adoption of three constitutional amendments to establish that ideal as American law. The Reconstruction amendments abolished slavery, guaranteed all persons due process and equal protection of the law, and equipped black men with the right to vote. They established the principle of birthright citizenship and guaranteed the privileges and immunities of all citizens. The federal government, not the states, was charged with enforcement, reversing the priority of the original Constitution and the Bill of Rights. In grafting the principle of equality onto the Constitution, these revolutionary changes marked the second founding of the United States.

Eric Foner's compact, insightful history traces the arc of these pivotal amendments from their dramatic origins in pre-Civil War mass meetings of African-American "colored citizens" and in Republican party politics to their virtual nullification in the late nineteenth century. A series of momentous decisions by the Supreme Court narrowed the rights guaranteed in the amendments, while the states actively undermined them. The Jim Crow system was the result. Again today there are serious political challenges to birthright citizenship, voting rights, due process, and equal protection of the law. Like all great works of history, this one informs our understanding of the present as well as the past: knowledge and vigilance are always necessary to secure our basic rights.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this lucid legal history and political manifesto, Pulitzer Prize--winning historian Foner (The Fiery Trial) explores how the "Reconstruction amendments"--the 13th, 14th, and 15th, which abolished slavery, granted birthright citizenship, and acknowledged black men's political rights--have been interpreted over the past century and a half. Foner begins with Congressional debates immediately after the Civil War about what "freedom" could and should mean in the context of the liberation of hundreds of thousands of slaves. Most relevantly for today, Foner depicts the disagreement among both Democrats and Republicans about who should have, and be allowed to use, the right to vote. He points out that, as recently as 2013, the Supreme Court has failed to use the 15th Amendment to oppose state laws that, while not specifically mentioning ethnicity or race, make it difficult for nonwhite citizens to vote, and has refused to bar discriminatory practices of private citizens, in seeming contradiction to the 14th Amendment. In Foner's view, the current moment represents a "retreat from racial equality," but the rights promised in these amendments also remain "viable alternatives." Readers invested in social equality will find Foner's guarded optimism about the possibility of judicial activism in this area inspiring, and both casual readers and those well-versed in American legal history will benefit from his clear prose and insightful exploration of constitutional history. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

Schoolchildren learn that the Constitution did not solve the slavery question. That required the Civil War and the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, which dramatically altered how we are governed. This engrossing scholarly history recounts how it happened.Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Foner (Emeritus, History/Columbia Univ.; Battle for Freedom: The Use and Abuse of American History, 2017, etc.) reminds readers that the Emancipation Proclamation freed some slaves, and the 1865 surrender of Confederate armies freed none. Abolition required the 13th Amendment. Abraham Lincoln stayed neutral as the 1864 Congress debated it. He was in a tight presidential race, and supporting black rights was not a vote-getter. Initially, the amendment failed, with most Northern Democrats opposed, warning that it would lead to black voting and interracial marriage. After the election, in which Republicans increased their majority, it passed. Soon, it became apparent that Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, a vehement racist, was encouraging white supremacists to form governments in former Confederate states. In December 1865, Congress refused to admit their representatives and proposed what became the 14th and 15th amendments. The 14th, the longest in the Constitution, was meant to "establish the rights of the freed people and all Americans; create a uniform definition of citizenship; outline a way back into the union for seceded states; limit the political influence of leading Confederates; contribute to the nation-building process catalyzed by the Civil War; and serve as a political platform that would enable the Republican Party to retain its hold on power." The 15th, which prohibited denying voting rights based on race, was controversial even in the North. No congressional Democrat voted for it, and post-Reconstruction Southern governments had no trouble disenfranchising blacks. Foner emphasizes that these revolutionary amendments were poorly drawn, difficult to enforce, and not widely popular among whites. Nearly a century passed before the protection of due process, individual rights, and racial equality won over the courts and many, if not all, whites.A convincing but definitely not uplifting account of how Reconstruction drastically changed our Constitution. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Choice Review

In The Second Founding, Foner (emer., Columbia Univ.) argues that from the ashes of the US's bloody internal conflict rose three additions to the Constitution--the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments (1865, 1868, 1870)--that redefined US citizenship. Within a few years, formerly enslaved black laborers became citizens who participated in elections and held public offices--a feat that was unprecedented at the time and remains virtually unheard of in the global history of post-emancipation societies. In contrast to the many scholars who dwell on the failures of Reconstruction, Foner focuses on the positive, asserting that the period marked the beginning of the nation's long civil rights movement. Unfortunately, late-19th-century state governments and federal courts worked in tandem to reverse Reconstruction's achievements. With an eye focused on the present-day US, Foner reminds readers that protecting the Constitution requires constant vigilance to resist forces that seek an exclusive rather than inclusive national vision. The Second Founding solidifies Foner's place as one of the greatest historians of the present generation. His work serves as a reminder of Reconstruction's enduring presence in contemporary life. This engaging narrative will appeal to specialists and nonspecialists alike. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. --Keith Hebert, Auburn University

Library Journal Review

Foner (De Witt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History, Columbia Univ.), doyen of scholars on the Reconstruction era, whose Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863--1877 presents a seminal work on the topic, here focuses on the changes wrought on the U.S. Constitution by the Civil War and Reconstruction. When first adopted, the Constitution's power was vested in the states. The conclusion of the war saw the federal government seize preeminent authority through the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. Those amendments abolished slavery, provided due process and equal rights under the law to African Americans, and granted black men the right to vote. Foner details how the freedmen engaged in the political process, only to see the very rights granted to them eroded during Reconstruction. The federal government's abandonment of the principles it ensconced in the three landmark amendments set the stage for the subsequent imposition of Jim Crow laws throughout the South. Foner brilliantly shows that the federal government's actions in the 19th century continue to resonate today. VERDICT A must-read for anyone interested in U.S. history.--John R. Burch, Univ. of Tennessee at Martin

List of Illustrations	p. xi
The Reconstruction Amendments	p. xiii
Preface	p. xix
Introduction: Origins of the Second Founding	p. 1
1 What Is Freedom? The Thirteenth Amendment	p. 21
2 Toward Equality: The Fourteenth Amendment	p. 55
3 The Right to Vote: The Fifteenth Amendment	p. 93
4 Justice and Jurisprudence	p. 125
Epilogue	p. 169
Acknowledgments	p. 177
Notes	p. 179
Index	p. 207

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Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

Choice Review

Library Journal Review

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