Constitutional Crises from the Founding to the Present

This course focuses on episodes of heightened political conflict that have been framed in constitutional terms. Each of the episodes has raised anxieties about the capacity of the constitutional order to resolve severe conflict. Much current constitutional doctrine emerged from them. Topics include the Civil War, the New Deal, and the Civil Rights Movement; the dispossession of the Cherokee Indians in the Jackson era and the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II; the elections of 1800, 1876, 2000, and 2020; and the impeachments of Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. We will consider how the Constitution's provisions on the structure of government shape conflict and the extent to which its guarantees of rights protect vulnerable people in times of political turmoil. Elements used in grading: Attendance, Class Participation, Final Exam.