Legal History Commons^™

Playing With Words: Amar’S Nationalist Constitution, Robert J. Pushaw Jr.

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This essay provides a balanced critique of Akhil Amar’s important book on early constitutional theory and practice. On the one hand, Amar’s work has three unique virtues. First, unlike other constitutional historians, he does not examine a particular clause or a brief time period (such as 1787‑1789), but rather analyzes the Constitution as a whole from 1760 to 1840. This holistic and longitudinal approach enables him to trace in detail the evolving constitutional views of America’s leading Founders—John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Marshall, and George Washington—and the personal relationships among those men that helped shape those …

Sticks, Stones, And So-Called Judges: Why The Era Of Trump Necessitates Revisiting Presidential Influence On The Courts, Quinn W. Crowley

Indiana Law Journal

This Note will be primarily divided into three main sections. Part I of this Note will begin by discussing the importance of judicial independence in modern society and the role of elected officials in shaping the public perception of the courts. Additionally, as problems of judicial legitimacy are age-old and date back to America’s founding, Part I will include a brief discussion of an early clash between President Thomas Jefferson and the courts.

Parts II and III of this Note will seek to place President Trump’s conduct towards the judicial branch within the proper historical context. Part II examines the …

Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers - Accession 1049, Dorothy Moser Medlin

Manuscript Collection

(The Dorothy Moser Medlin Papers are currently in processing.)

This collection contains most of the records of Dorothy Medlin’s work and correspondence and also includes reference materials, notes, microfilm, photographic negatives related both to her professional and personal life. Additions include a FLES Handbook, co-authored by Dorothy Medlin and a decorative mirror belonging to Dorothy Medlin.

Major series in this collection include: some original 18th century writings and ephemera and primary source material of André Morellet, extensive collection of secondary material on André Morellet's writings and translations, Winthrop related files, literary manuscripts and notes by Dorothy Medlin (1966-2011), copies …

United States V. The William And The Phenomena Of Jury Nullification In Early 19th Century America, Michael G. Lederman

Legal History Publications

In September 1808, Judge John Davis upheld the constitutionality of the Embargo Act of 1807 under the Constitution’s Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 Interstate Commerce power. Judge Davis’s original opinion curiously lacks any reference to Marbury v. Madison. Judge Davis defends judicial review and rejects the notion of jury nullification. While Judge Davis upheld the embargo’s constitutionality, a subsequent jury trial on the facts resulted in the return of The William to its rightful owners. This case reflects the attempts by early American judges to carve out the power of judicial review and maintain the appearance of an …

The Original Meaning Of "God": Using The Language Of The Framing Generation To Create A Coherent Establishment Clause Jurisprudence, Michael I. Meyerson

All Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court’s attempt to create a standard for evaluating whether the Establishment Clause is violated by religious governmental speech, such as the public display of the Ten Commandments or the Pledge of Allegiance, is a total failure. The Court’s Establishment Clause jurisprudence has been termed “convoluted,” “a muddled mess,” and “a polite lie.” Unwilling to either allow all governmental religious speech or ban it entirely, the Court is in need of a coherent standard for distinguishing the permissible from the unconstitutional. Thus far, no Justice has offered such a standard.

A careful reading of the history of the framing …

Founding Legal Education In America, Paul D. Carrington

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Stewart V. Mcintosh, 4 H. & J. 233 (1816), Rhett Donnelly

Student Articles and Papers

Stewart v. M’Intosh was argued during the time period of the Jay Treaty, the Quasi-War, the Haitian Revolution, and the War of 1812. The facts begin at the end of the 18^th century and extend into the early 19^th century. The arguments and ruling were based on trade restrictions between United States citizens and territories under French control. The plaintiffs focused their arguments on the specific language of the Congressional acts, which outlawed trade with French territories but did not directly mention the regions at issue, while the defendants looked at the implications of the acts and the …

Placing Your Faith In The Constitution, Harold H. Bruff

Publications

No abstract provided.

Religious Liberty That Almost Wasn't: On The Origin Of The Establishment Clause Of The First Amendment, Gregory C. Downs

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

The purpose of this article is to briefly examine the origin of the Establishment Clause in the event sometimes referred to as the "Virginia Experience," and to consider the possibility that the significant "leading roles" in the First Amendment's creation were not limited to Jefferson and Madison. Further, Madison's leading role in the actual sponsorship of the First Amendment may not have been entirely voluntary. With the ever-present litigation and controversies revolving around the extent and meaning of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, the overlooked history of the creation of the First Amendment is both interesting and instructive in the …

The Treason Trial Of Aaron Burr, Douglas O. Linder

Faculty Works

The high-stakes treason trial of Aaron Burr came at an unstable time, both in Europe and in America. The American and French revolutions worried traditional European powers, Great Britain and Spain, who were determined to keep the radical new doctrine from undermining the power of their royalty. Meanwhile, Napoleon's empire-building produced sustained military conflict on the Continent. The United States seemed on the verge of a war with Spain, even as the Administration struggled to preserve neutrality. Americans west of the Alleghenies rejoiced in President Jefferson's acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, but boundary disputes and Spanish prohibitions on Louisiana residents' …

Who Was William Marbury?, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Of all the disappointed office seekers in American history, only William Marbury has been so honored as to have his portrait hung in the chambers of the United States Supreme Court alongside that of James Madison. The two titular protagonists to the Marbury v. Madison dispute had no idea that their original contretemps would ever find its way to litigation, let alone eventual mythic significance as the foundation stone of judicial review.

Thomas Jefferson And Bolling V Bolling, Richard B. Bernstein

Books

The manuscript account of the arguments in the case of Bolling v Bolling, chiefly in the hand of Thomas Jefferson, has been published for the first time in this book. The manuscript, which is now in the collection of the Henry E Huntington Library, contains the most complete known account of arguments submitted to an American colonial court. The book's introduction to the court case places it into its proper context.

Federal Reserve: History, Purposes And Functions - An Analysis, Mukunda Lakshamanarao

LLM Theses and Essays

On December 23, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Reserve Act. With this law, Congress established a central banking system which would enable the world’s most powerful industrial nation to manage its money and credit more effectively than ever before. The political and legislative struggle to create the Federal Reserve System was long and often bitter, and this final product in 1913 was the result of a carefully crafted and somewhat tenuous political compromise between national and regional powers. Since its founding, the Federal Reserve System has evolved to meet the needs of a changing financial system …

Marbury's Travail: Federalist Politics And William Marbury's Appointment As Justice Of The Peace, David F. Forte

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article describes how Marbury, the youngest son of an impoverished remnant of a well-known family, elbowed his way to wealth and influence among the Maryland gentry. Further, this Article illuminates Marbury's choice between the two wings of the Federalist party in Maryland - the Hamiltonian elite and the Adams' loyalists - and how Marbury's partisan service brought him to a position earning Thomas Jefferson's disdain and rebuff. In the end, Marbury's appointment and rejection derived from the very different characters of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson's Equity Commonplace Book, Edward Dumbauld

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Classical Republicanism And The American Revolution, Gordon S. Wood

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In his Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution, Professor Wood outlines the evolution of republicanism from antiquity to the eighteenth century and notes the ensuing evolution of American politics away from even this late republicanism.

Algernon Sidney On Public Right, Edward Dumbauld

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

John Locke And The Declaration Of Independence, Kenneth D. Stern

Cleveland State Law Review

In an article published in the Journal of the American Bar Association in 1949, Dean Clarence Manion, then Dean of the College of Law of the University of Notre Dame, stated, "It is misleading to attribute the philosophy of the Declaration (of Independence) to the writings of John Locke." Dean Manion feels that Locke implies that the rights of minority groups and even of individuals are subordinated to the dictates of the majority. Manion concluded that Jefferson's philosophy contrasts sharply with the Lockian creed. A more thorough examination of Locke's writings, however, tends to lead to the opposite conclusion.

2 Henry Adams, History Of The United States During The Administration Of Thomas Jefferson 241-42 (1891)

Documents from Making Habeas Work: A Legal History (monograph)

Aaron Burr … found it prudent to travel west. There, he allegedly conspired with others to separate some of this country’s newly acquired western territories from their allegiance to the United States.