HIST 615: Problems in American History
HIST 615-002: US Legal History
(Spring 2025)
07:20 PM to 10:00 PM M
Innovation Hall 316
Section Information for Spring 2025
What are the fundamental rights of American citizens, and how should they be enforced? What is the role of the law – and the Supreme Court – in American democracy? How should crime be policed? These are controversial questions – now and in the past – and they have helped make legal history one of the most exciting subfields in U.S. history. This course provides an overview to the historical study of the law. Ranging from the antebellum period to the present, it assumes no prior legal training. Rather, providing an introduction to the histories of rights claims, discrimination, policing, labor law, free speech, marriage, and abortion, it will explore the various ways that scholars have reconstructed the histories of American law, and the many ways that they have used history to answer deeper questions about the role of law in U.S. society, culture, and politics.
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Course Information from the University Catalog
Credits: 1-6
Enrollment limited to students with a class of Advanced to Candidacy, Graduate, Junior Plus, Non-Degree or Senior Plus.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate, Non-Degree or Undergraduate level students.
Students in a Non-Degree Undergraduate degree may not enroll.
This course is graded on the Graduate Regular scale.
The University Catalog is the authoritative source for information on courses. The Schedule of Classes is the authoritative source for information on classes scheduled for this semester. See the Schedule for the most up-to-date information and see Patriot web to register for classes.