Kermit Roosevelt (University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted Reconstruction as Revolution: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Destruction of Founding America (Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 25, p. 1073, 2023) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Conventional wisdom maintains that Reconstruction was a fulfilment of the ideals of the Founding, and in particular the concept of equality expressed in the Declaration of Independence. This article argues to the contrary that Reconstruction rejected the ideals of the Founding and destroyed the political order of Founding America. Founding America had more in common with the Confederacy than we like to admit, and though there is room for pride in its accomplishments, what true patriotism demands of us is pride in its destruction.
Recommended.
