The three post–Civil War constitutional amendments offered the United States a second, more democratic founding. Preserving this framework is essential. It became clear to me that the framers ...

This week marks the 160th anniversary of the passage of the 13th Amendment. Congress, dominated by free state Republicans after the secession of slaveholding states, worked for 18 months to secure ...

It took the United States two tries to get the Constitution right. The first time was at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. The second time was during Reconstruction, the 12-year period after the ...

LancasterHistory's newest museum has been accepted into a National Park Service network dedicated to the U.S. era of Reconstruction. The Thaddeus Stevens & Lydia Hamilton Smith Center for History and ...