In light of the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination and all this talk about "threats to democracy," the historical revisionism of Lincoln and the acts of the Radical Republicans after the Civil War is under discussed. What's even more important and has fundamentally changed the nation-state balance and continues to affect our lives today is the Fourteenth Amendment--more accurately titled "military edict no. 1." The United States is not a nation founded on popular sovereignty and the will of the people as long as the Fourteenth Amendment is considered a part of our Constitution.
I advise every American to study the history of its ratification. In short, placing half the country under a military occupation until they ratify the Fourteenth Amendment was neither popular nor sovereign.