This class will uncover the deep, foundational relationships between American slavery and the nation's legal, constitutional, and judicial traditions. It will, in turn, consider the historical and structural tensions between democratic state-building and the social, economic, and security imperatives of a slave society. It will begin with a historical analysis of how, starting in the seventeenth-century British empire, slaveholder sought to shape the construction of what would become the foundations of American law. After considering the historical foundations of American slavery, the class will turn toward an examination of how slavery's legal foundations shaped American legal, constitutional, and jurisprudential practices after its abolition. Students will complete final projects that work to uncover the extent of slavery's continued presence in the precedents and traditions that shape the modern American judiciary. |