Dr. Susan Longfield Karr
The ideas on which the United States was founded are rich and diverse—and sometimes in tension with one another. Since our early history, Americans have sought to clarify those ideas and resolve those tensions through the Constitution and the intricate body of law, traditions, and norms that have come to comprise our constitutional heritage. This course explores the political and legal history of the U.S. Constitution, and its historical antecedents reaching back two millennia, by analyzing how ordinary people have fought to participate in the acts of constitution making, amendment, and interpretation. Particular attention will be paid to the ideas, institutions, and individuals responsible for making the Constitution a battleground with intellectual, social, and cultural significance, including how the U.S. Constitution has had a larger impact on American society, law, and politics at some points more than others.
Drawing on various primary source documents, students will study the historical and philosophical foundations of America’s founding principles from diverse voices. In addition, readings will focus on constitutional conventions, alternative constitutions, constitutional amendments, U.S. Supreme Court cases, and the constitutional objectives of political movements across history and the political spectrum. Finally, this course will consider how national debates about the U.S. Constitution have been informed by—and have informed—global politics since the eighteenth century.
