Title
Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America
Files
Description
"Engaging . . . With a novelist's eye for biographical detail, Epps has written an . . . enthralling book."―David W. Blight, Chicago Tribune
The last battle of the Civil War wasn't fought at Appomattox by dashing generals or young soldiers but by middle-aged men in frock coats. Yet it was war all the same―a desperate struggle for the soul and future of the new American Republic that was rising from the ashes of Civil War. It was the battle that planted the seeds of democracy, under the bland heading "Amendment XIV." Scholars call it the "Second Constitution." Over time, the Fourteenth Amendment―which at last provided African Americans with full citizenship and prohibited any state from denying any citizen due process and equal protection under the law―changed almost every detail of our public life.
Democracy Reborn tells the story of this desperate struggle, from the halls of Congress to the bloody streets of Memphis and New Orleans. Both a novelist and a constitutional scholar, Garrett Epps unfolds a powerful story against a panoramic portrait of America on the verge of a new era.
ISBN
978-0805086638
Publication Date
9-4-2007
Publisher
Holt Paperbacks
City
New York, NY
Keywords
U.S. history, african-american, civil rights, reconstruction, politics, civil war, constitution, congress, amendment
Disciplines
Civil Rights and Discrimination | Constitutional Law | Law | Legal History
Recommended Citation
Epps, Garrett, "Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America" (2007). Books. 27.
https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/fac_books/27
Comments
Finalist for 2006 Silver Gavel Book Award of the American Bar Association.