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How Opposition to Federal Protection Revealed the Persons of Reconstruction The President objected. Congress answered. The official record identified the people.   Reconstruction Meets Executive Resistance The constitutional journey of Reconstruction met resistance from within the Federal Government itself. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before he could administer the peace he had envisioned. Andrew Johnson inherited …

PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON: The Three Vetoes—One Identification Read More »

The Republic’s First Reconstruction Institution ANNOTATED EDITION I. Freedom Required a Federal Institution The Emancipation Proclamation declared freedom for enslaved persons in designated areas of rebellion, and the Thirteenth Amendment would subsequently abolish slavery throughout the United States.[1] Neither measure, however, could by itself resolve the immediate human consequences produced by centuries of American chattel …

THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAU From Emancipation to Federal Protection Read More »

I.  HOW TO READ THIS WORK: A Guide to the Reader II.     A NOTE TO THE READER: Why This Work Is Offered Now III.    The Confiscation Acts — 1861–1862 IV.     The Emancipation Proclamation — 1862–1863 V.       Abraham Lincoln’s Constitutional Charge — The Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address, 1863–1865 VI.   …

Directory: The Remedial, Federal Law Train Read More »

The Unfinished Work: From Gettysburg to the Second Inaugural The Constitutional Bridge from Sacrifice to a Just and Lasting Peace I. Two Speeches—One Continuing Charge Abraham Lincoln did not live to preside over the constitutional Reconstruction that followed the Civil War. He did not witness the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, or Fifteenth Amendments, nor …

ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S  CONSTITUTIONAL CHARGE Read More »

The Purpose, Method, Vocabulary, and Constitutional Boundaries of This Inquiry This work asks the reader to travel through history without confusing history with metaphor, law with aspiration, constitutional authority with moral urgency, or preventative warning with a proposed use of force. I. The Purpose of This Constitutional Inquiry This work is not intended to be …

HOW TO READ THIS WORK: A Guide to the Reader Read More »

From Human Property to Federal Protection ANNOTATED EDITION Wartime Origins of Reconstruction The constitutional story of Reconstruction did not begin with Appomattox.[1] It began while the Civil War was still being fought. The First and Second Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862 were enacted during the Nation’s greatest constitutional crisis.[2] Their immediate purpose was to …

THE CONFISCATION ACTS: Enacted to Save the Union Read More »

The President’s Constitutional Commitment: From Military Necessity to Constitutional Stewardship ANNOTATED EDITION I. The Constitutional Crisis Reaches the Presidency By the autumn of 1862, the Civil War had become more than a contest over secession. It had become a struggle over the constitutional future of the Union itself. The Confiscation Acts had begun the Federal …

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: The Executive Covenant of Freedom Read More »

From Gettysburg to the Second Inaugural The Constitutional Bridge from Sacrifice to a Just and Lasting Peace I. Two Speeches—One Continuing Charge Abraham Lincoln did not live to preside over the constitutional Reconstruction that followed the Civil War. He did not witness the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, or Fifteenth Amendments, nor did he sign …

ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S  CONSTITUTIONAL CHARGE: The Unfinished Work Read More »

This work is offered with urgency, but not with hostility; with conviction, but not with a demand for unexamined agreement; and with faith, but not as a substitute for constitutional evidence. An Invitation, Not a Command The essays in this Annotated Edition form an evolving constitutional series examining the development, implementation, contraction, and continuing significance …

A NOTE TO THE READER: Why This Work Is Offered Now Read More »

Reconstruction’s Permanent Executive Institution From Reconstruction to Re-Examination “Be True to What You Said on Paper.” ANNOTATED EDITION The Permanent Institution of Reconstruction The Reconstruction Congress understood that constitutional rights, once declared, required faithful execution.[1] The Civil Rights Act of 1866 established the principal statutory framework of Reconstruction.[2] The Reconstruction Amendments secured that framework within …

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE From Reconstruction to Re-Examination Read More »