LAWS 4513 Constitutional History: The Framing of the Constitution

This seminar will focus on the framing period of the U.S. Constitution as a political, legal, historical, cultural, intellectual, and literary process. We will consider a range of topics using primary and secondary sources, including, e.g., the idea of a constitution; the narrative of the Convention; the reliability of the sources; the various initial plans and strategies; issues of representation and slavery; the conception of the executive and judiciary; the role of committees and drafts; ratification; the process of amendment; American constitutional culture. As a 3 credit seminar, expectations include class assignments related to class reading and the writing process, and completion of a research paper on an approved topic related to an aspect of constitutional history, politics, or constitutionalism broadly conceived (e.g., history, biographical, American, global, comparative etc.). The seminar includes weekly exercises designed to support the writing of the research paper.