Course Section | Columbia Law School

Section Description Provided by Instructor

This course attempts to provide a coherent narrative of legal
development in the British North American colonies and the United
States from 1607 to 1976. The approach taken emphasizes the role of
law and legal institutions in the larger historical context, rather
than concentrating exclusively on the development of doctrine or the
changing nature of legal ideology. The central organizing concerns are
the succession of federal empires in North America; the constitutive
role of slavery and white supremacy in the "nation, conceived in
liberty"; and the constitutional development of the "new birth of
freedom" that succeeded the first American republic after the Civil
War. Some previous academic acquaintance with US history is useful,
but not required. Instruction is by lecture and mediated web-based
discussion. There is no examination: A brief historical essay for
publication based on documentary research must be written and
successfully revised.