Prerequisites: None

Exam Type: No Exam

The seminar will examine the legal and constitutional history of late-colonial America and the early republic, an era that spans the middle of the eighteenth century to the first decades of the nineteenth. Reading for the seminar will include books, articles, amicus briefs, and some primary materials on topics such as the impact of law on the Revolution, the impact of the Revolution on law, crime and punishment, probing for original intent, the conservative and revolutionary roles of law in economy and society, and changing legal definitions of slavery, freedom, and dependence.