John Bingham: Father of the 14th Amendment

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2018

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Bingham was one of the most influential but least known visionaries of the post-Civil War Constitution. Dubbed “the James Madison of the 14th Amendment” by Justice Hugo Black, Bingham drafted a constitutional provision that changed the course of American history by ensuring that states were duty-bound to uphold their citizens’ constitutional rights. A moderate Republican and dedicated supporter of abolition before the Civil War, Bingham spearheaded the Reconstruction-era efforts to guarantee citizenship to all people born in the United States, regardless of race, and to extend the Constitution’s promise of equality to all American citizens. Gerard Magliocca is the Samuel R. Rosen Professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and the author of the definitive biography of Bingham. Kurt Lash is the E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Chair in Law at the University of Richmond School of Law and the author of the book The Fourteenth Amendment and the Privileges or Immunities of American Citizenship. Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you. Contact the We the People team at podcast@constitutioncenter.org The National Constitution Center is offering CLE credits for select America’s Town Hall programs! Get more information at constitutioncenter.org/CLE.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome
0:10.0	to We The People, the Weekly Show of Constitutional Debate.
0:13.8	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase awareness
0:20.6	and understanding of the Constitution among the American people. awareness and
0:24.0	understanding of the Constitution among the American people.
0:32.0	July 9th, 2018 marks the 150th anniversary of the 14th amendment to the United States and to commemorate this momentous anniversary as well as to
0:36.3	anticipate the Constitution Center's upcoming exhibit on the constitutional legacy of the Civil
0:41.3	War and Reconstruction, We the People is featured. constitutional legacy of the civil war and reconstruction.
0:43.2	We the people is featuring, or we the people are featuring,
0:47.7	the stories of some of the 14th Amendment's most important figures.
0:51.7	In this episode, we delve into the life and
0:53.8	constitutional story of the father of 14th Amendment whom Justice
0:57.8	Hugo Black referred to as the Madison of the 14th Amendment, Ohio
1:02.0	Congressman John Bingham.
1:04.0	Joining us are two of America's leading scholars on John Bingham.
1:07.3	I'll go so far as to say America's two leading scholars on John Bingham,
1:11.1	the 14th Amendment, and constitutional law.
1:14.2	Gerard Malyoka is Samuel Rosen professor at the Indiana University, Robert McKinney
1:19.2	School of Law.
1:20.4	He's the author of four books, including most importantly for today.
1:24.0	The leading biography,
1:26.0	one can all say the only biography of John Bingham,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from National Constitution Center, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of National Constitution Center and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.