LAW 733 - Seminar in American Legal History

Credits, 3 sem. hrs.

This seminar will explore the ways in which the law has influenced the course of American history and the impact of historical events and trends on legal development in the United States. Students will be introduced to a variety of methodological approaches employed by legal historians and will think critically about how law shapes and is shaped by changing social reality. Topics will include the close relationship between law and society in the Salem Witch Trials, the origins of judicial review, the law of slavery, the legal aspects of the American Civil War, changing conceptions of marriage in the United States, the rise of legal realism and the demise of legal formalism, expansion of federal government power during the New Deal, the rights revolution in the twentieth century, and the legal battle against segregation. Class meetings will consist primarily of discussion of reading assignments, which will be drawn from both primary and secondary sources. Students will write several reaction papers based on the readings for the class.

[Crosslisted with: HIS 6613.]

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