Epilogue

Summary

The Epilogue shows the conclusion of the constitutional conflict over slavery. As the North was poised to exert control over all three branches of the federal government, Southerners called for additional safeguards in the form of constitutional amendments. Americans from all walks of life participated in the constitutional conflict over slavery. They read the Constitution. They made their own interpretations of its provisions. And they acted on their constitutional beliefs by supporting secession, compromise, or coercion. Once the constitutional conflict over slavery became a shooting war, they volunteered by the tens of thousands to take up arms and fight for their understanding of the Constitution. In the end, the Civil War afforded the North the opportunity to realize the Constitution’s antislavery potential. In short order, Congress passed and the states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment (1865), which abolished slavery, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments (1868 and 1870), which compelled the states to recognize the rights of their African-American citizens. After the Civil War, the Founders’ Constitution was no more. In its place is the living Constitution that Americans have been expanding upon and improving ever since.