This seminar focuses on the way legal institutions adapted to the institution of human slavery in North America during the 18th and 19th century, and prompted the evolution of legal support for resistance to slavery. Students will investigate the tension slavery generated in a republican society by examining federal and state statutes, proclamations, constitutions, and judicial opinions, as well as historical scholarship and autobiographical writings by slaves. Topics examined include the African slave trade, the colonial rejection of slavery in Georgia, the catalyst of slavery in New England's economy, women in the abolitionist movement, fugitives and maroon communities, gradual emancipation, and the impact of territorial expansion upon the law of slavery, with particular emphasis on the 1856 Dred Scott decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Course requires a journal and a research paper.
Among other works, the class will read and discuss Crime and Punishment, Macbeth, Billy Budd, Antigone, and The Scarlet Letter. We will study these and other classics for the illumination they cast on such issues as the duty to obey, the duty to enforce, the mind of the outlaw, and the tension between natural and positive law. As we will discuss, the law of tax, crimes, torts, contracts, property, evidence, bankruptcy, immigration, civil rights, landlord-tenant relations, trusts and estates, employee benefits, and federal jurisdiction, among other subjects, all contain rules that recognize marriage. We continue this tradition of scrutiny. Because one purpose of this seminar is to produce publishable scholarship, enrolled students are expected to have reflected on their area of research interest before our first class meeting in August.