American Constitutional Law I

Catalog description

This course focuses on the major constitutional controversies of 18 th and 19 th centuries. Using Supreme Court decisions and other documents, the course will examine dominant constitutional understandings of the Founding, Jeffersonian, Jacksonian, Civil War, Reconstruction, and Gilded Age periods. The course includes an examination of Americans' understandings of the power and authority of the federal and government, and the rights persons possessed under the Constitution. Prerequisite(s): junior or senior standing, or permission of instructor.