Few documents are cited as frequently as the US Constitution by people who have never bothered to read it. Buried in the middle of the short document is the source of modern liberty, the 14th Amendment, this book shows how freedom and liberty was imposed from high minded elites against the will of a violently racist society.
Most people imagine that democracy in America was something that came with the Revolutionary War. In reality, the founding fathers were deeply suspicious of the common people to make decisions regarding their political future. It would be a stretch to imagine that they foresaw the attack ad ridden political culture of today, but there is some merit in this thought. In the election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800, a mere 2% of the voters of the state of New York were permitted to vote. In 1828, only 7% of the population took part in the election of Andrew Jackson. Popular voting for president occurred in South Carolina only after the Civil War. Changes came about only as migration to west made some of the property requirements irrelevant, but up until Reconstruction, White Male America might enjoy political rights (the franchise) and civil rights (the right to marry, make contracts) although not everyone had those rights (and would not until the repeal of the poll tax in the 1960s! African Americans were prevented from registering to vote until the mid-1960s, and there are still election year purges of the voting rolls in doubtful states in election years) .
The status of slaves evolved rapidly from 1858-1865, when Dred Scott asserted that slaves were not citizens, but chattel and enjoyed no more rights than cattle to the idea that newly freed Africans Americans would have both political and civil rights. Like numerous controversies that would follow and would grow out of the 14 Amendment, the idea of black enfranchisement was no more popular with the majority of the population than gay marriage is today in some circles. The notion that former slaves might exercise the franchise was an abomination in many circles North and South. As usual, it took the work of a band of elites to insert into the constitution the notion that all people were equal in their relationship to the state, not a platitude, but a real controversial issue of the day.
It took men like Thaddeus Stevens, whose views of racial equality have largely become accepted at least in most quarters was regarded as a radical by the standards of his day. To understand just how out of step Stevens was with the attitudes of his day and up until the end of WWII, one need only look at his subsequent portrayals. Stevens inherently reasonable and farsighted position led to him being caricatured by subsequent historians and even D.W. in his racist epic, Birth of a Nation.
The villain of the book is the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, the alcoholic racist president, determined in the name of equality to keep former slaves in a new form of bondage. The author thinks it was a pity he was not impeached and I am inclined to agree with them. It would have been different for the people who would spin the history of Reconstruction in later generations to make Johnson into a hero had he been removed from office. The political ineptitude of Johnson should be celebrated, even if his ideas of making the United States a country fit only for white people are repugnant to all right thinking people. Had he not proven to be such a failure as a political leader the 14th Amendment would never have been passed. He solidified the ranks of the Republican Party better than any leader could have done and pushed them to greater progressive thought than would have been possible had he compromised. A lesson is here for politicians of both parties.
Getting the 14th Amendment passed involved a variety of political shenanigans by the radicals. Elections were declared invalid, southern representatives, who had opposed the United States only a year before, were not seated in congress and rebellious states were not allowed to be readmitted. Garratt Epps demonstrates the various parries and thrusts by Stevens and his allies, all to put forth the idea that all men were created equal and make it more than a slogan, but a genuine rebirth of freedom.
The authors of the 14th Amendment were flawed in the sense that they did not go far enough. Women were excluded and this served to drive a wedge between the two camps of the former abolitionist movement. Those who sought an equal roll just for the former slaves became divorced from their female emancipation allies.
Once the 14th Amendment was passed and even before people were horrified at the idea that people would be regarded as equal under the law and steps were taken to undermine its impact. As the memories of the Civil War retreated, people wanted to forget, they wanted sectional unity more than they wanted freedom. It really took the end of another war, WWII and a gradual discrediting of racist views for the Amendment to assume a larger role. Yep, this is what all those "liberal judges" cite when new freedoms are found in court cases and this is the amendment that gives all those people who are outraged by these decisions promoting equality under the law fits. May it long continue to do so.
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