Constitutional Legal History

This course will consider the creation and development of the United States Constitution in relation to civil and human rights. In it we seek to discover the root ideals animating the Constitution as a civil/human rights charter and to contrast those ideals with their practical results when applied to the various people-groups coming under its influence during the period studied: property owners (and their opposite), Aboriginal (Native) Americans, women, "slaves," and children. The purpose is to gain an understanding of the contrast between the philosophical Constitution and the real one, placing present-day civil rights discourse in a useful historical context and advancing our legal thinking on constitutionalism, both generally and in the American context.

Course Number: 721

Credits: 3