The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution

Abolition is a prohibition of the institution of slavery. Abolition differs from emancipation because emancipation refers to freeing some individuals from slavery, whereas abolition refers to abolishing the practice as a whole. Enslaved people could be emancipated before the Civil War, but the 13th Amendment abolished the institution of slavery. Still, the question remained as to what constituted slavery. Abolitionists questioned whether racial discrimination counted as a “badge” of slavery. After slavery ended, formerly enslaved people had natural rights, but they still did not have political, social, or civil rights. After the 13th Amendment, Radical Republicans continued to add to the Constitution to secure additional rights for Black people, seeing it as a continued fight for the true end of slavery.

An amendment is a change or addition to the Constitution. The first 10 amendments to the Constitution are collectively known as the Bill of Rights, and are frequently referenced in modern court cases. The Second Founding argues that the most significant amendments after the Bill of Rights were the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. These are known as the Reconstruction Amendments. Amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures, so they require considerable support. Given the sharp sectional divides after the Civil War, this made an amendment very difficult to pass.