POLI2327 · Political Science

U.S. Constitutional Development

Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences

Restricted to sophomores, juniors, and seniors only.. A survey of the development of American constitutionalism, considered historically as the product of legal, political, and intellectual currents and crises. Coverage includes the Founding, the Marshall and Taney eras, the slavery crisis, the rise of corporate capitalism, the emergence of the modern state, the Great Depression/New Deal, and new forms of rights and liberties. Topics include the growth of Supreme Court power, the Court's relation to the states and the other federal branches, and the influence on constitutional understandings of economic developments, reform movements, wars, party competition, and legal and political thought.