The Second Founding: The History and Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment

FAIN: LD-234352-16

National Constitution Center (Philadelphia, PA 19106-1514)
Jeffrey Rosen (Project Director: June 2015 to April 2017)

A public forum, public programs, production of podcasts, and creation of educational materials that explore the 14th Amendment's history and its relevance today.

The NCC will sponsor and inspire a yearlong national conversation about the origins of the Fourteenth Amendment and its relevance today. The Second Founding: The History and Meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment will coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments – the so-called “Reconstruction amendments. For years, students and citizens have been taught a version of American history that treats the Civil War and the ratification of these amendments as separate from the miracle of 1787. However, as suggested by Senate Resolution 198, which “encourages the people of the United States to explore the history and significance of the Second Founding,” only after their passage did the Constitution begin to extend its inspiring guarantees of liberty to all Americans. Of the Reconstruction Amendments, the Fourteenth has proven particularly significant, shaping jurisprudence regarding problems as urgent as police legitimacy, immigration, voting right