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Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

Read more about this Supreme Court case at Oyez.

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Statue of Dred Scott and wife

Allegiance, Birthright, and Race in America

What the Dred Scott v. Sandford case meant for black citizenship.
by William A. Darity Jr., Charles Ali Bey via Black Perspectives on August 4, 2021
A portrait of Dred Scott.

The Importance of Teaching Dred Scott

By limiting discussion of the infamous Supreme Court decision, law-school professors risk minimizing the role of racism in American history.
by Jeannie Suk Gerson via The New Yorker on June 8, 2021
Demonstrators protesting Trump's immigration policy toward Muslims outside the Supreme Court.
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How To Resist Bad Supreme Court Rulings

What Dred Scott teaches us about thwarting bad law.
by Martha S. Jones via Made By History on July 6, 2018

Dred Scott Strains the Mystic Chords

Dred Scott was an opportunity to settle what the South had previously been unable to achieve either legislatively or judicially.
by Michael Liss via 3 Quarks Daily on March 5, 2018
Donald Trump walking onstage, next to four American flags.

‘The Dred Scott of Our Time’

The Supreme Court has invested the presidency with quasi-monarchial powers, repudiating the foundational principle of the rule of law.
by Sean Wilentz via New York Review of Books on July 4, 2024
Dred Scott.

Setting the Records Straight: U.S. Officers’ Pay Claims “Vouching” for Slavery

Military archives reveal the brutal history of slavery in the U.S. Army.
by Yoav Hamdani via The Panorama on January 2, 2024
Abraham Lincoln.

The Two Constitutions

James Oakes’s deeply researched book argues that two very different readings of the 1787 charter put the United States on a course of all but inevitable conflict.
by David W. Blight via New York Review of Books on May 18, 2023
The Fuller Court

Whose Side Is the Supreme Court On?

The Supreme Court and the pursuit of racial equality.
by Randall Kennedy via The Nation on August 9, 2021
Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass and the Trouble with Critical Race Theory

A favorite icon of critical race theory proponents doesn’t say what they want him to say.
by Robert S. Levine via Los Angeles Review of Books on August 2, 2021

How Abraham Lincoln Fought the Supreme Court

As Lincoln recognized, it's not enough to question the decisions, justices, or even the structure of the Court. We need to challenge the foundation of its power.
by Matthew Karp via Jacobin on September 19, 2020
Painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The Nation Is Imperfect. The Constitution Is Still a 'Glorious Liberty Document.'

As part of its “1619” inquiry into slavery's legacy, The New York Times revives 19th century revisionist history on the founding.
by Timothy Sandefur via Reason on August 21, 2019
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How the Supreme Court Fractured the Nation — and How It Threatens to Do So Again

Abortion and America’s new sectional divide.
by H. W. Brands via Made By History on November 20, 2018

The Real Origins of Birthright Citizenship

Its purpose 150 years ago was to incorporate former slaves into the nation.
by Martha S. Jones via The Atlantic on October 31, 2018

Citizenship Shouldn't Be a Birthright

Guaranteeing citizen status simply for being born here is a deliberate misreading of the Fourteenth Amendment.
by Michael Anton via Washington Post on July 18, 2018

No Rights Which the White Man Is Bound to Respect

The spectre of Dred Scott is haunting St. Louis.
by Walter Johnson via Boston Review on September 27, 2017
Caricature drawing of Charles Black

Pursuing the Pursuit of Happiness

Traditional Supreme Court precedent may depend too much on substantive due process to safeguard human rights.
by Laurence H. Tribe via New York Review of Books on September 24, 1998
Political cartoon showing Supreme Court Justice Sutherland handing a woman worker a decision on minimum wage.

The Most Conservative Branch

Stephen Breyer criticizes recent Supreme Court decisions and argues for a more pragmatic jurisprudence.
by Jed S. Rakoff via New York Review of Books on August 29, 2024
The Hall of the House of Representatives.

Are We Living Through Another 1850s?

It’s difficult to see how these profound antipathies and fears will dissipate soon through any normal political processes.
by Robert W. Merry via The American Conservative on July 22, 2024
Chief Justice John Roberts attending the State of the Union.

J. Roberts et al. v. A. Lincoln

As the Supreme Court invents a law to negate all others, Chief Justice John Roberts now ranks just below Roger Taney.
by Harold Meyerson via The American Prospect on July 8, 2024
Lincoln being sworn in by Chief Justice Taney.

We Are Already Defying the Supreme Court

The risks of calling on politicians to push back against the court must be weighed against the present reality of a malign judicial dictatorship.
by Samuel Moyn, Ryan D. Doerfler via Dissent on April 16, 2024
Abraham Lincoln campaigning with the Wide Awakes.

The Club of Cape-Wearing Activists Who Helped Elect Lincoln—and Spark the Civil War

The untold story of the Wide Awakes, the young Americans who took up the torch for their antislavery cause and stirred the nation.
by Jon Grinspan via Smithsonian on April 1, 2024
Woman holding up a pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution.

Conservatives Don’t Have a Monopoly on Originalism

The text and historical context of the Constitution provide liberals with ample opportunities to advance their own vision of America.
by Simon Lazarus via The New Republic on March 29, 2024
Peter Waddell's "A Vision Unfolds" imaginatively depicts Benjamin Banneker advising President Washington and fellow surveyor Andrew Ellicott on the layout of the proposed federal capital.

Banneker’s Answer to Jefferson: “I Am an American”

The black naturalist, astronomer, surveyor, and almanac-writer Benjamin Banneker took issue with Thomas Jefferson’s attitude toward “those of my complexion.”
by Edward J. Larson via American Heritage on November 21, 2023
U.S. Capitol building

Searching for the Perfect Republic

On the 14th amendment – and if it might stop Trump.
by Eric Foner, Ted Widmer via The Guardian on November 15, 2023
A mobile of the American flag's stars and bars hanging over a cradle.

Why Republicans Keep Calling for the End of Birthright Citizenship

It’s about more than immigration.
by Martha S. Jones via The Atlantic on July 2, 2023
Collage showing people gathering at the site of school shootings.

The Second Generation of School Shootings

The fear that overtook us that day in 1988 was unfamiliar to most Americans. Now all too many know how it feels.
by Sarah Churchwell via The Atlantic on May 23, 2023
Cover of "Vigilance: The Life of William Still, Father of the Underground Railroad" by Andrew K. Diemer

A Historian Forgotten

A new biography of William Still show how the abolitionist documented the underground railroad as he helped people through it.
by Bennett Parten via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 7, 2023
Wong Kim Ark in a photograph from a federal immigration investigation case conducted under the Chinese Exclusion Acts.
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Everyone Born in the United States is a U.S. Citizen. Here’s Why.

From birthright freedom to birthright citizenship.
by Amanda Frost via Made By History on March 28, 2023
Ron Desantis, his face partially covered by books, with soft gold lighting on his face and the book spines

The Forgotten Ron DeSantis Book

The Florida governor’s long-ignored 2011 work, "Dreams From Our Founding Fathers," reveals a distinct vision of American history.
by David Waldstreicher via The Atlantic on February 22, 2023
original

No Better Soil

In the first half of the 19th century, upstate New York was a hotbed of movements for reform. How visible is that history today?
by Ed Ayers on January 23, 2023
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