Born Equal: Remaking America's Constitution, 1840-1920

by Akhil Reed Amar

Overview

From “one of our most prodigious constitutional scholars” (Jonathan Eig), the definitive history of how the ideal of birth equality reshaped the American Constitution, from antebellum debates over slavery and secession, to the Civil War and emancipation, to women’s suffrage

In 1840, millions of Black Americans groaned in the chains of slavery. By 1920, millions of American men and women of every race had won the vote.

In Born Equal, the prizewinning constitutional historian Akhil Reed Amar recounts the dramatic constitutional debates that unfolded across these eight decades, when four glorious amendments abolished slavery, secured Black and female citizenship, and extended suffrage regardless of race or gender. At the heart of this era was the epic and ever-evolving idea that all Americans are created equal. The promise of birth equality sat at the base of the 1776 Declaration of Independence. But in the nineteenth century, remarkable American women and men—especially Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Abraham Lincoln—elaborated a new vision of what this ideal demanded. Their debates played out from Seneca Falls to the halls of Congress, from Bleeding Kansas to Gettysburg, from Ford’s Theater to the White House gates, ultimately transforming the nation and the world. 

An ambitious narrative history and a penetrating work of legal and political analysis, Born Equal is a vital new portrait of America’s winding road toward equality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541605190
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	09/16/2025
Pages:	736
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 2.40(d)

About the Author

Akhil Reed Amar is the Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University and the author of several books on constitutional law and history, including America’s Constitution: A Biography and The Words That Made Us. He lives in Woodbridge, Connecticut.

Editorial Reviews

“Born Equal is learned and long but never dry... The historical set pieces have punch, and Amar imbues figures like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Beecher Stowe with humanity and immediacy... Born Equal is [Amar's] latest—and perhaps most assertive—effort to stake a claim on original intent.”—New York Times

“[Born Equal] is a thorough and vivid account of those who toiled to help bring about Lincoln’s new birth of freedom before, during and after the Civil War….In an era when some see little reason to respect a Constitution composed and ratified centuries ago, often by slaveholders and politicians who protected that evil trade, Mr. Amar presents a much richer, more colorful and ultimately more compelling account of American political history.”—Wall Street Journal

“This second volume of a planned trilogy offers another beguiling example of Amar’s unique blend of constitutional legal analysis, history, and political science, all delivered in a fluid narrative style.... Readers will close this volume with a richer knowledge of the history of this period and a deepened understanding of the once and future meanings of ‘all men are created equal.’”—Foreign Affairs

“Akhil Amar's latest masterpiece... A magisterial ode to Americana, zeroing in on our foundational constitutional saga. At its core? The Declaration’s audacious promise that all are created equal, a vow Mr. Amar excavates with the precision of an archaeologist and the flair of a storyteller.... Weaving together speeches, novels and even maps, he crafts a constitutional chronicle that’s at once entertaining and deeply serious.”—Neal Kaytal, Wall Street Journal

“No scholar knows more about the Constitution…1840 to 1920 was an amazing period of constitutional history, and Amar has captured all the dynamism of those eighty years in this wonderfully readable volume.”—Gordon Wood, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy

“A pointed, closely argued study of the long historical arc leading to civil equality for all.”—Kirkus (starred)

“Legal scholar Amar tracks the evolution of constitutional rights from the heights of ‘slavocracy’ in the 1840s and ’50s through women winning the right to vote in 1920.... An elegantly written and thorough survey of America’s second founding.”—Publishers Weekly

“Akhil Reed Amar is one of our most prodigious constitutional scholars, one of our finest teachers, and, as if that were not enough, a writer of stunning grace and power. Born Equal is a masterpiece—and one that could not be better timed, as we struggle yet again to define and deliver the American promise of equality. Essential reading.”—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A Life

“Wonderful....Born Equal is no simple narrative with one thing happening after another. It is the most extraordinary kind of history that I have read....Akhil has paid tribute to the power of equality in our political and constitutional lives as no other historian ever has.”—Gordon Wood, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Radicalism of the American Revolution

“A deep dive into the words that shaped and sharpened the American nation's fundamental founding principle of equality and equity under law, Born Equal is required reading for anyone seeking to understand, interpret, and apply the United States constitution today.”—Edward J. Larson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in History and author of Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters

“With deep conviction and engaging narrative flair, Amar weaves a fascinating constitutional history of a nation challenged to fulfill the promise that all were born equal. Amar asks the reader to think with him—perhaps even to argue—about the crucial nineteenth century constitutional struggles over the meaning of America.”—Mary Sarah Bilder, Bancroft Prize–winning author of Madison's Hand

“This inspired and inspiring book combines in-depth scholarly research and analysis, original insights, and captivating stories to present a compelling view of our Constitution as designed to secure full and equal rights for all Americans. It should galvanize all readers—from Supreme Court Justices to school students—to do whatever we can to turn these founding ideals into present-day realities.”—Nadine Strossen, New York Law School, former president of the ACLU

“Akhil Reed Amar is the most accomplished scholar of his age cohort in both law and history because he writes superb books like Born Equal, which will change the minds of everyone across the political spectrum from Federalist Society members to Bernie Sanders leftists. The history told in this book goes to the very core of what it means to be an American citizen and to understanding our Constitution. Amar knows, that for all our faults, the United States is, as President Ronald Reagan called it, ‘A Shining City on a Hill.’ This book brilliantly proves that Ronald Reagan was right! Born Equal is one of the most important books ever written.”—Steven Gow Calabresi, Clayton J. & Henry R. Barber Professor, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

From the Publisher