American Constitutional History

This seminar focuses on the historical context of ideas, events, and perceptions that led up to the creation of the federal constitution. Emphasis is placed on the effort to approach the federal constitution as 18th-century Americans did -- including the framers and proponents of the constitution and their opponents--the Anti-federalists. That insight leads up to a roundtable role play of historical participants in the debate over the proposed constitution.

The course also integrates other selected themes, such as natural law in the American constitutional tradition, the experience with 19th-century state constitution-making, and the constitutional challenges and implications of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Moreover, the course has a degree of flexibility to respond to and accommodate themes or issues of constitutional history of particular interest to the seminars participants.

Students are required to write a paper on any topic of their choice and toward the end of the semester will make presentations to the rest of the seminar based on their papers.