The first one, the lesson of the revolution, is that a national government
can threaten liberty, and the states can stand up to protect their citizens.
That's the vision that gives us the Articles of Confederation, but they fail,
which gives us a second lesson.
The states can't cooperate.
That gives us the Founder's Constitution.
And now the third.
The lesson of the Civil War and it's aftermath.
Do states really look after it's citizens?
No.
Not if you count the freed slaves.
If you think about the freed slaves,
you don't see states protecting their citizens.
You see states oppressing them.
The third lesson of American history is basically the opposite of the first one.
You don't need states to protect their citizens from the federal government.
You need the federal government to come in and protect citizens from their states.
This is a complete reversal of the founding vision.
The states aren't good anymore.
The states are bad.
And the federal government isn't a threat to liberty anymore.
It's the protector of liberty.
And of equality.
This new vision is what we call the Reconstruction Vision, and
it's embodied in the the three Reconstruction Amendments.
The 13th, 14th, and 15th.
What are these amendments?
What do they do?