Sean Wilentz

George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History and Professor of History at Princeton University. He studies U.S. political and social history, with work spanning the early republic, slavery and antislavery, American politics, and culture.

Enforceable Voting Rights Are the Test of American Democracy

Princeton historian Sean Wilentz argues that American democracy has been shaped by two intertwined revolutions: one against arbitrary monarchy and for popular sovereignty, the other against chattel slavery. In his account, neither the Declaration’s equality principle nor the Reconstruction Amendments secured democracy on their own; rights advanced when political mobilization was backed by enforceable federal power, and receded when that protection weakened. He places voting rights and constitutional limits on executive authority at the center of that unfinished struggle.

The Aspen InstituteJul 31, 202614 min read