WHENCE COMES SECTION ONE? THE ABOLITIONIST ORIGINS OF THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT

ABSTRACT The contribution of abolitionist constitutionalism to the original public meaning of Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment was long obscured by a revisionist history that disparaged abolitionism, the ‘‘radical’’ Republicans, and their effort to establish democracy over Southern terrorism during Reconstruction. As a result, more Americans know about ‘‘carpetbaggers’’…