Live Online Book Forum # *The Reconstruction Amendments: The Essential Documents* ### (University of Chicago Press, 2021) ##### Watch the Event Download: [ Video ](https://fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/2ae343bd-828a-48fc-b97f-e73c432297a1/4043b88c-5c2a-4fee-9e99-ebf6a38bfbb1/main.mp4) [ Audio ](https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5e2e15a046f4465f31c89d8c/1631738724049-b98a18a21dfc8471042b121455081527.mp3) Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoSCOTUS](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoSCOTUS). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute. Date and Time September 15, 2021 2 - 3 PM EDT Location Live Online Share This Event ##### Featuring ![Kurt Lash](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-09/lash-kurt-cropped.jpg?itok=wG5c4523) Kurt Lash E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Richmond School of Law [ ](https://twitter.com/kurtlash1) ![Christopher Green](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-09/Christopher-Green-cropped.jpg?itok=BKFu_zZH) Christopher Green Professor of Law, H. L. A. Hart Scholar of Law and Philosophy, University of Mississippi School of Law [ ](https://twitter.com/crgreen24601) ![Richard Primus](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-09/Richard-Primus.jpg?itok=wxZMTdXb) Richard Primus Theodore J. St. Antoine Collegiate Professor of Law, University of Michigan Law School [ ](https://twitter.com/richard_primus) [![Thomas Berry](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-02/2025-10-16-Thomas%20Berry-sq_0.jpg?itok=SW7WagUw)](/people/thomas-berry) [Thomas A. Berry](/people/thomas-berry) Director, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute [ ](https://x.com/Thomas_A_Berry) [ ](mailto:tberry@cato.org) The Civil War and its aftermath were a turning point in American history. Starting near the end of the war and then continuing during Reconstruction, Congress set to work drafting three constitutional amendments that would fundamentally alter our founding document. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments, collectively known as the Reconstruction Amendments, aimed to protect the liberties that had previously been denied in much of the country. Together, these amendments abolished slavery, established the rights to due process and equal protection, and banned racial discrimination in voting laws. Today, the Reconstruction Amendments remain at the heart of some of our most contentious legal controversies: Does equal protection mandate equality of outcome or equality of opportunity? To what extent does due process carry with it substantive rights of personal autonomy? And do the “privileges or immunities” guaranteed to all citizens encompass a broader set of rights than courts have been willing to protect? To help us answer these questions, it is crucial to understand what those who drafted, debated, and ratified the Reconstruction Amendments thought and said. University of Richmond law professor Kurt Lash’s epic two-volume work is the most comprehensive source ever compiled of the key speeches, debates, and public dialogues that accompanied the drafting and ratification of these amendments. In this book forum, Professor Lash will comment on his work and the importance of primary historical sources to constitutional study. Professors Christopher Green and Richard Primus will also offer their thoughts on the work and its implications. ![The Reconstruction Amendments: The Essential Documents](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/promo_block_book_cover_1x/public/2021-09/Reconstruction-Amendments-The-Essential-Documents-cover.jpg?itok=Nogk2lef) ### *The Reconstruction Amendments: The Essential Documents* Filling a major gap in the literature on the era, *The Reconstruction Amendments* will be indispensable for readers in politics, history, and law, as well as anyone seeking a better understanding of the post–Civil War basis of American constitutional democracy. Volume I outlines a broad historical context for the Reconstruction Amendments and contains materials related to the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, while Volume 2 covers the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments on the rights of citizenship and enfranchisement. [Purchase Volume 1 ⟶](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo48885453.html) [Purchase Volume 2 ⟶](https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/R/bo48885921.html) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).