The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution
Eric Foner
W. W. Norton & Company
Eric Foner’s compact, insightful history examines pivotal constitutional amendments designed to establish the principle of birthright citizenship and to guarantee the privileges and immunities of all citizens. It 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 19thc. to inform our understanding of the present as well as the past: knowledge and vigilance are always necessary to secure our basic rights.