Democracy Reborn

"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. Garrett Epps is the author of "The Shad Treatment" and "The Floating Island: A Tale of Washington." He is the Orlando John and Marian H. Hollis Professor at the University of Oregon School of Law. He lives in Eugene, Oregon. The last battle of the Civil War was not fought at Appomattox, but in the Pacific Railroad Committee Room of the U.S. Capitol, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, in the hotels and gambling dens of Washington, D.C., and on the streets of Memphis and New Orleans. It was a struggle for the future of the new American Republic that was rising from the ashes of Civil War. Scholars call "Amendment XIV" the "second Constitution." Over time, the Fourteenth Amendment--which 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. In 1865, though the South's armies had been defeated, its politicians were prepared--with President Andrew Johnson's support--to reenter Congress and run the nation as they had before Fort Sumter. In opposition, congressional leaders had only a few weeks to seat a new Congress and begin the process of constitutional reform. Led by Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, and Robert Dale Owen, their high-stakes political game took place against a backdrop of mob violence, threats of a coup d'etat, and an angry southern president who considered the reformers traitors. Garrett Epps tells the story of this struggle against a panoramic portrait of America on the verge of a new era. Included in that portrait are Walt Whitman, feminists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, black abolitionist Frederick Douglass, and others (famous and known) who took part in the battle that reshaped our democracy. "The 14th Amendment was 'by far the most sweeping and complex change ever made in the original Constitution, ' argues Garrett Epps in this valuable history of the amendment's adoption. Over time, he writes, it has 'changed almost every detail of our national life.' A University of Oregon law professor and former "Washington Post" reporter who has published two novels, Epps brings crisp writing to a story whose political complexities and obscure cast of characters pose tall hurdles for any popular history."--David Garrow, "The Washington Post" "Epps . . . draws on much recent historical scholarship in arguing that the Civil War and Reconstruction forged a 'second Constitution' for the U.S. . . . He reveals how a handful of 1860s Republicans responded to the challenge of Union victory and black emancipation by defining American citizenship for the first time, protecting the Bill of Rights in the states by federal mandate and authorizing Congress to enforce civil, if not full political, rights. As Epps writes, 'We live in the house they redesigned, ' a large, contested, constitutional tent governed by the artful ambiguity of the equal protection clause . . . Epps book can help a broad readership realize that whenever Americans declare their rights, they owe much of their expanded freedom to the end of slavery and the 'second founders' of the republic."--David W. Blight, Yale University, "The Chicago Tribune"

"Garrett Epps has nearly covered the waterfront as a writer: novelist, historian, op-ed commentator, humorist . . . His latest book, "Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America," shows off his abilities as a strategic historian--one who makes the chess moves of the past come alive and seem sharply relevant to the present and future . . . "Democracy Reborn" reveals the ego and bluster inevitable in congressional doings. More importantly, its close view gives readers the tools with which to understand the legacy of blood, sweat and political maneuvering behind the civil rights in place today."--Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett, "The Oregonian"

"'Americans know that they have rights, ' Garrett Epps contends in his engaging book "Democracy Reborn." 'But too few understand that the source of our rights is not Philadelphia 1787 but Washington 1866.' Epps, a law professor and novelist, draws on much recent historical scholarship in arguing that the Civil War and Reconstruction forged a 'second Constitution' for the U.S. . . . Epps' book can help a broad readership realize that whenever Americans declare their rights, they owe much of their expanded freedom to the end of slavery and the 'second founders' of the republic."--David W. Blight, "Chicago Tribune"

"The 14th Amendment was 'by far the most sweeping and complex change ever made in the original Constitution, ' argues Garrett Epps in this valuable history of the amendment's adoption. Over time, he writes, it has 'changed almost every detail of our national life.' A University of Oregon law professor and former "Washington Post" r