Law in American History (Chapter 2)

G. Edward White, LAW IN AMERICAN HISTORY: VOLUME ONE, FROM THE COLONIAL YEARS THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR, Chapter 2, Forthcoming

Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2010-42

93 Pages Posted: 19 Nov 2010

See all articles by G. Edward White

G. Edward White

University of Virginia School of Law

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Date Written: November 17, 2010

Abstract

This is Chapter Two of Law in American History: Volume One, From the Colonial Years Through the Civil War.

The book’s purpose is to explore the relationship of law to some central themes of American history from the initial colonial settlements through the conclusion of the Civil War. The themes singled out in the book include the displacement of Amerindian tribes from land they occupied on the North American continent; the emergence of agricultural householding as the principal form of family life in colonial British America; the detachment of the American colonies from the British Empire and the theories of sovereignty and grievance that accompanied that development; the evolution of American forms of government from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution; the emergence of the Supreme Court of the United States as a major institution of American grievance; the westward movement of enterprise and population in the decades between the 1830’s and the 1850’s; the central role of slavery and westward expansion and the gradual dissolution of the Union during these decades; and the role of the Civil War as a culmination of the central themes of early American history and as a force in transforming the subsequent course of that history.

Suggested Citation

White, G. Edward, Law in American History (Chapter 2) (November 17, 2010). G. Edward White, LAW IN AMERICAN HISTORY: VOLUME ONE, FROM THE COLONIAL YEARS THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR, Chapter 2, Forthcoming, Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 2010-42, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1710632 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1710632

G. Edward White (Contact Author)

University of Virginia School of Law ( email )

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HOME PAGE: http://www.law.virginia.edu/lawweb/faculty.nsf/PrF

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