Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War AmericaA riveting narrative of the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, an act which revolutionized the U.S. constitution and shaped the nation's destiny in the wake of the Civil War Though the end of the Civil War and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation inspired optimism for a new, happier reality for blacks, in truth the battle for equal rights was just beginning. Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's successor, argued that the federal government could not abolish slavery. In Johnson's America, there would be no black voting, no civil rights for blacks. When a handful of men and women rose to challenge Johnson, the stage was set for a bruising constitutional battle. Garrett Epps, a novelist and constitutional scholar, takes the reader inside the halls of the Thirty-ninth Congress to witness the dramatic story of the Fourteenth Amendment's creation. At the book's center are a cast of characters every bit as fascinating as the Founding Fathers. Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, among others, understood that only with the votes of freed blacks could the American Republic be saved. Democracy Reborn offers an engrossing account of a definitive turning point in our nation's history and the significant legislation that reclaimed the democratic ideal of equal rights for all U.S. citizens. |
Contents
Philadelphia I787 Red Sky at Morning | 13 |
Not Among Angels | 222 |
A Union of Truly Democratic States | 240 |
The Second Constitution | 262 |
Bihlzography | 297 |
Acknowledgments | 317 |
Other editions - View all
Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in ... Garrett Epps No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
abolitionist Andrew Johnson antebellum Anthony antislavery began bill Bingham black Americans black voting called Carl Schurz Charles Sumner citizens citizenship civil rights color committee’s Confederate confiscated congressional Constitution convention Court debate delegates Democrats Dennett Edward McPherson election Elizabeth Cady Stanton emancipation Emancipation Proclamation Fessenden fight figure final finally find first five floor former slaves Fourteenth Amendment Framers Frederick Douglass freed slaves Freedmen’s Bureau freedom historian History Howard Ibid James John John Bingham joint committee land leaders Lincoln McPherson ment nation negro North Northern office officers officials Owen’s party political politician president presidential proclaimed proposed protection race Radical ratified rebel Reconstruction Reid Republic Republican Robert Dale Owen secession Senate Slave Power slavery South Southern speech Stanton state’s Stevens’s suffrage Thaddeus Stevens Thirteenth Amendment tion Trefousse Trumbull Union United veto voters Washington White House Whitelaw Reid Whitman women wrote Yorh York