On October 12, 2006, UO law professor Garrett Epps inaugurated his tenure as Hollis Professor of Law with a public lecture that explained his theory that the enactment of the Fourteenth Amendment marks a "Second Founding: The Story of the Fourteenth Amendment" of the American Republic after the failure of the Constitution of 1787.

His remarks drew on his recent book, Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America. "More than the Declaration of Independence, more than the original Constitution, more than even the Bill of Rights, it is the 14th Amendment that makes America a democratic country," Epps said. The speech was followed by a reception and booksigning in the Wayne Morse Commons.

Garrett Epps, a former staff writer for the Washington Post, is the author of two novels and a number of articles and books on constitutional law. He is the Orlando and Marian Hollis Professor of Law at the University of Oregon.

Click here to see the lecture.
Second Founding: The Story of the Fourteenth Amendment speech