My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As the United States is once again engaged in a struggle for race-consciousness and democratic renewal, historians have turned their gaze to the little known and little understood period of Reconstruction. The period from 1865-1877, roughly, birthed three new amendments to the Constitution, the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. In this new work by the leading historian on Reconstruction, Mr. Foner examines the history behind the creation, ratification, and legal legacy of the Reconstruction amendments and makes the argument that their intent was far more expansive than anyone, particularly the justices, past and present, of the Supreme Court, have ever dared to believe.
The end of the Civil War raised a series of questions regarding the relationship between the federal government and the states, between the government and its citizens, and between white and black citizens themselves. The 13th amendment officially ended slavery in America, but Mr. Foner notes that section 2 of the amendment, which gives Congress the power to enforce the the amendment through legislation, fundamentally altered the previous federal system the country operated under. Mr. Foner notes that the Due Process clause of the 14th amendment has had long reaching consequences for Americans' civil rights, but notes how the authors of the amendment thought the Privileges and Immunities clause could be more far-reaching. And Mr. Foner notes how the 15th amendment protection of African-American mens' right to vote could have been much stronger had the politics of the time been much different. Through all of this, Mr. Foner notes the multifaceted debates that surrounded all of these amendments and how, like the story of Reconstruction as a whole, the Supreme Court's retreat from fully implementing these amendments, even working to outright nullify them at times, still lingers over the country today, like a malevolent shadow.
While this book is a relatively short read at approximately 170+ narrative pages, this is by no means an easy read. Like a good historian, Mr. Foner gets into the weeds of congressional debate, lawmaking, and jurisprudence. This makes for an incredibly complicated reading experience, especially as there are no subtitles in the chapters to help orientate the different subjects Mr. Foner covers. That, more than anything, would've been extremely helpful in following along with his arguments.
Still, this is an incredibly important work of political and legal history coming at just the right time to help us better understand the true history of such a maligned historical period as Reconstruction and how, in the country's ongoing quest to overcome our shared legacy of slavery, racism, and inequality, a better understanding of the past can help us better our circumstances in the present. While the complicated debates described in this book can be daunting, this is a work of history that should be read by all historians, legal scholars, judges, politicians, and lovers of American history.
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