Nearly a decade ago, Mark Graber, a constitutional law professor at the University of Maryland, started researching a new book . He wanted to examine how the lawmakers who crafted the 14th Amendment in the aftermath of the Civil War actually thought at the time about the new constitutional provision that provided equal citizenship rights to all citizens, no matter their race.

Graber wouldnt focus on the amendments heavily cited Section 1, with its equal protection, due process and birthright citizenship clauses. Instead, he intended to dig into the more obscure sections, covering reapportionment of congressional representatives, the validity of the public debt and the disqualification from office for insurrection and rebellion, and explore the legal thinking of the era.