The Second Founding

Eric Foner is our nation’s foremost historian of Reconstruction, the author of dozens of books and articles. This is my favorite—it takes the research and thought of a monumental career and packages it for maximum impact. In just over 200 pages, it takes you through the changes of the Civil War and Reconstruction and their relevance for America today. 

Being “woke” at a profound, historical level is just one of the consequences of reading Eric Foner’s superb explication of how the Supreme Court, supported by other powerful forces, undid the country’s monumental decision not only to end slavery but to give the formerly enslaved truly fair participation in society and equality before the law. This book should be required study for all members of the current Court.

This recent book, by the dean of Reconstruction studies, deepens our understanding of the impact that the three Reconstruction era amendments had in “remaking the Constitution,” and American politics more generally. But while celebrating the achievement of these amendments, Foner also details the policy limits and “loopholes” encoded in the specific language of those amendments. 

Three amendments after the Civil War made for a revolution in our constitutional order. They abolished slavery, guaranteed all people due process and equal protection of the law, and gave Black men the vote. In doing so, the principle of equality, for the first time, was written into our national law. In this short, riveting account, one of our nation's greatest historians argues that this marked a second founding of the U.S. The struggle over the meaning of this second founding has the country in its grip to this day.