Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The Civil War on Trial

Via H-Law, we have news of The Civil War on Trial: Legal Issues That Divided a Nation,” a conference to be held June 7–9, 2012, at the Dean Alexander Moot Courtroom, 4th Floor, Albany Law School, Albany, New York.  The co-chairs are Harold Holzer, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation and Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School.  Sponsors are New York State Archives Partnership Trust, Government Law Center of Albany Law School, Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and New York State Bar Association

The announcement invites you to “[j]oin us in New York State’s capital for a one-of-a-kind conference with some of the nation’s preeminent scholars on the Civil War and the law as we consider legal issues that led to and defined the Civil War and post-war reconstruction.”

Topics include the Fugitive Slave Act and Secession, Rights of Secession/States’ Rights,    Emancipation and Presidential Power, Civil Liberties: Free Press, Civil Liberties: Habeas Corpus, Recruitment of Black Troops, The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and Military Justice

Presenters include (in addition to the co-chairs) Diane Barnes, Youngstown State University, Hon. Joseph Bellacosa, New York State Court of Appeals (Retired), Spencer Crew, George Mason University, Eric Freedman, Hofstra University School of Law, William Freehling, University of Kentucky, Nelson Lankford, Virginia Historical Society, James Oakes, City University of New York, Rex Smith, Albany Times Union, John Stauffer, Harvard University, David O. Stewart, Attorney and author, James Swanson, The Heritage Foundation, Craig Symonds, U.S. Naval Academy, Nikki Taylor, University of Cincinnati, Hon. Richard Wesley, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, Hon. Frank J. Williams, Rhode Island Supreme Court (Retired).