Constitutions in Conflict: Proslavery vs Antislavery

[We have the following announcement of a Bonnie and Richard Reiss Graduate Institute for Constitutional History Seminar of the New-York Historical Society, which ought not to be confused with those of the Institute for Constitutional Studies, held at George Washington University.  DRE.]

Constitutions in Conflict: Proslavery vs Antislavery.  Presented in person at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024.  Fridays, October 29, November 5 and 19, December 10, 2021 | 2–5 pm ET.  Application deadline is September 15, 2021.

The Constitution of 1787 was famously a compromise between proslavery and antislavery delegates. For that very reason, the supporters and opponents of slavery would go on to invoke the Constitution in support of their very different causes. In four discussions that span the Founding Era up through the Civil War, historians James Oakes and Sean Wilentz examine the critical points in the constitutional debate over slavery and consider how Congress and the courts grappled with constitutional contradictions.