Southern Constitutionalism and the American Tradition

(1 Credit Hour) · Undergraduate

This course will explore major constitutive questions that shaped southern thinking about the political/governmental structure in the United States, principally in the post-Revolution period and in the 19th century. Among the significant questions to be explored is whether emerging southern ideas about American constitutionalism derived from founding American principles or were a departure from them. Special consideration will be given to: the historical context that prompted southern ideas and movements; the purposes for which initiatives were introduced; developing southern ideas about federalism and government authority; key southern political leaders that merit attention; the challenge of slavery as a constitutional and political question; the drive that led southerners to secession and civil war in the mid-19th century; and the constitutional framework of the Southern Confederacy.