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American Founding Son: John Bingham and the Invention of the Fourteenth Amendment. By Gerard N. Magliocca. (New York: New York University Press, 2013. Pp. 293. Cloth, $39.00.)
In a culture that emphasizes "original intent" and lionizes the drafters of the key texts that formulated the American system of government and the important principles of liberty and equality, it is strange that John A. Bingham, the primary author of section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, is so obscure.
Basic constitutional literacy demands familiarity with Bingham. It is hard to imagine a student of the Declaration of Independence who does not know of Thomas Jefferson, or of the Constitution who does not know of James Madison. Unfortunately, Bingham's invisibility as a constitutional hero mirrors current political and legal amnesia about how the Fourteenth Amendment fundamentally reordered how the Constitution protects liberty and equality.
Bingham might be remembered for any one of his roles-drafter of the Fourteenth Amendment, key member of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction, prosecutor of coconspirators in the Lincoln assassination, prosecutor of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in the Senate, first American minister plenipotentiary (ambassador) to Japan-rather than forgotten for all of them. Bingham was a prominent Republican who had great influence on the press, polity, and politicians of his time.
Although politically astute, Bingham was more statesman than skilled political operative, who placed principles ahead of political ambitions. He repeatedly failed to win selection as a senator by the...