The Nation That Never Was

 
The Nation That Never Was by Kermit Roosevelt III (2022) 250pp 

Sorry, this is not a legal thriller, but a testament to legal scholarship. Roosevelt (yes, that family) is a professor of law and the rigor that comes with that profession permeates the book.  The simple contention of the work is that the ideal of the U.S. Constitution, originally penned by the “founding fathers”, was only completed upon the addition of post civil war modifications, specifically the addition of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments (the 19th amendment fits in this category as well).  

Roosevelt walks us through the background of the compromises and limitations of the 18th century version; not placing blame, but simply showing the context of power and economics at play at that time. A fragile confederation of states had failed and the modifications needed to maintain the republic were a compromise.  Delineating the numerous intractable legal and societal changes that led to the Civil War, he even argues that the infamous Dred Scott Supreme Court case was decided correctly as per the law of the day.

The conclusion of the Civil War and the assassination of President Lincoln forced the Union into executive and legislative turmoil threatening the legal end of slavery.  The Reconstruction Congress commences to not just frame a series of statutes toward the goal of emancipation, but completes a “radical” modification of the Constitution.  

Roosevelt walks us through the problems and trauma of the decades from the end of Reconstruction to the “second reconstruction” culminating in passage of the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s. He then emphasizes the contemporary back-sliding and touches on solutions, including a clear explanation why reparations are needed, justified, and economically sound.

His conclusion is simple — that the Constitution is a “living document” and that the process to make “a more perfect union” is a continuous and sacred duty.