Course Description
Course examines the role of the law and lawyers in American history from Reconstruction until the end of the 20th century. We will examine the Civil War Amendments and federalism, laissez-faire formalism and economic regulation, the growth of legal liberalism, and the conservative reaction. Our primary purpose is to better understand the role lawyers have played in shaping social, political, and economic change.
Athena Title
Modern American Constitutional
Non-Traditional Format
The class will use a combination of teaching methods. Approximately 80% of our class time will be lecture. The other 20% will be organized as a seminar, emphasizing intensive reading, discussion, and critique of texts. Consequently, a primary requirement of this course is a careful reading of the assigned texts and a willingness to participate actively in class discussions.
Prerequisite
Students must be enrolled in the School of Law to register for this course
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
- Students will understand and evaluate the role law and lawyers play in producing social, economic, and political change.
- Students will improve their ability to analyze and evaluate the arguments made in secondary sources.
- Students will strengthen their ability to analyze and interpret evidence in primary sources.
- Students will expand their capacity to synthesize those materials in service of developing, supporting, and defending your own interpretations and arguments, orally and in writing.
Topical Outline
- I. Equality and the Rule of Law in a Federal System, 1861-1954 - addresses the framing of the Civil War Amendments, the role of those Amendments in Reconstruction and their influence on sex-based classifications in the 19th century, and the path to the decision in Brown v. Board
- II. Laissez Faire Formalism, 1861-1925 - addresses the growth of economic substantive due process and its influence on economic regulation in the early 20th century.
- III. The Growth of Legal Liberalism, 1900-1954 - will address the shift from laissez-faire formalism to legal liberalism and the affect of that transformation on freedom of speech and economic regulation, especially during the New Deal.
- IV. The Rights Revolution and Its Ambiguities, 1954 - 1980s - addresses how the rights revolution influenced the Civil Rights movement, sex classification, hate speech, welfare rights, and abortion rights
- V. The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement, 1960s – 1990s.
