Slavery and Reconstruction Law Research Guide
Introduction
Research Paper Topic Selection
Searching SCHOLAR and OhioLINK Catalogs
Treatises
Periodicals and Current Awareness Services
Interdisciplinary Research
Web Searching and Resources
Introduction
Researching Legal History can help one to better analyze and critique the foundation and development of current law as well as current cultural, social, economic, and political issues. Perhaps most illuminating, in the face of the doctrine of precedent, legal history provides evidence for how law changes over time and how law changes in relationship to cultural, social, economic, and political change. Researching Slavery and Reconstruction Law can specifically help one understand a wide assortment of constitutional, sovereignty, federal executive authority, jurisdictional, civil rights, and voting rights issues.
Though it is difficult to completely remove oneself from one's personal philosophies and experiences, when researching legal history one should make every effort to analyze historical figures and their actions according to their environment, language, society, and culture. In addition to objectivity, keen critical evaluation of resources is essential for valid legal history research.
Legal History encompasses a great array of primary and secondary materials and literature. At any time you may need to research statutes, code sections, legislative history, regulations, regulatory history, administrative decisions, and court decisions, as well as archival, historical, cultural, and social science materials.
For information on general legal history research methods and resources, with primary emphasis upon United States legal history, consult the Legal History guide available on the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library Law Library Publications and Resources Guides page.
For in-depth information on statutes, code sections, and legislative history, consult the Federal Legislative History and Legislative History Research guides available on the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library Law Library Publications and Resource Guides page. In these legislative history guides, note in particular the historical resources A Century of Lawmaking For A New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875 from the Library of Congress Thomas system, the CIS United States Serial Set Index and Microfiche Library (for 1789-1969 Congressional materials) in Law Library Microforms, and the CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index and Microfiche Library (for 1833-1969 hearings) in Law Library Microforms. See also the LexisNexis: Legal: Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K.: U.S. Congress: Legislative Histories: CIS/Historical Index (for 1789-1980 Congressional materials).
For in-depth information on regulations, regulatory history, and administrative decisions, consult the Administrative Law guide available on the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library Law Library Publications and Resource Guides page.
Please contact the Law Library's Research Services librarians during their Research Services hours, or via email for help with locating or using any of the resources discussed in this guide.
Research Paper Topic Selection
Selecting an appropriate topic for a research paper may seem more stressful than the writing itself. How can you find an interesting topic in which there's not too much, yet not too little, written?
First, try reviewing current issues and hot topics. Yes, there are "current issues and hot topics" in legal history as well as slavery and Reconstruction law research. Historians and legal history scholars continuously analyze the past, as well as critique historiography. Browse news and current events on professional or scholarly organization Web sites, such as the Association of American Law Schools and American Society for Legal History. Check out Lawtopic.com, which lists over 90 paper topics and includes tips on writing a student article. Browse legal news Web sites such as American Lawyer Media's American Lawyer, Law.Com, National Law Journal, and New York Law Journal, as well as Lawyers Weekly. Beyond providing resources for conducting research on a topic, both LexisNexis and Westlaw have news and other materials that may help you to identify a paper topic. In LexisNexis, review the source files arranged under "Legal - Area of Law - By Topic," "Legal - Secondary Legal" (such as the Bar Journals, Combined and Combined Legal Newsletters source files, as well as the American Bar Association group of source files) and "Legal - Legal News," as well as "News & Business - News" and "News & Business - Market & Industry - By Industry & Topic." In Westlaw, review the databases arranged under "Topical Materials by Area of Practice," "Legal Periodicals & Current Awareness" (such as Legal Newsletter Multibase, Legal Newspapers, and Notable Trials) and "Business and News" (such as the "Business & Trade Journals by Industry" and "Legal News" groups).
Second, once you've identified an appropriate topic, do a quick preliminary literature review to determine whether there are sufficient resources to discuss the topic as well as present your hypothesis and evidence-based conclusion. See the Scholarly Writing research guide, available on the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library Law Library Publications and Resource Guides page, and other sections of this Legal History guide for more complete information on conducting print and electronic research for your paper.
Searching SCHOLAR and OhioLINK Catalogs
SCHOLAR is the electronic catalog for Cleveland State University's Law Library and University Library. CSU also participates in the state-wide consortia OhioLINK, which provides access to a state-wide central catalog and numerous research databases. For treatises and other materials on
Slavery Law (with primary emphasis upon slavery in the United States) or legal aspects of the United States Reconstruction period, search the SCHOLAR and OhioLINK catalogs with such subject headings as Abolitionists -- United States, Antislavery Movements -- United States, Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877), Slavery -- Law and Legislation -- Southern States, Slavery -- Law and Legislation -- United States, Slaves -- Emancipation -- United States.
Treatises
Selected treatises in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library collection concerning Slavery Law (with primary emphasis upon slavery in the United States) or legal aspects of the United States Reconstruction period include the following:
Abraham Lincoln and the Road to Emancipation, 1861-1865 / William K. Klingaman. Viking, c2001. E457.2 .K57 2001
Abraham Lincoln, Constitutionalism, and Equal Rights in the Civil War Era / Herman Betz. Fordham University Press, c1998. E457.2 .B38 1998
All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery / Henry Mayer. St. Martin's Press, c1998. E449 .G25 M39 1998
Antislavery Political Writings, 1833-1860: a Reader / C. Bradley Thompson, ed. M.E. Sharpe, c2004. E449 .A62374 2004
The Antislavery Debate: Capitalism and Abolitionism as a Problem in Historical Interpretation / Thomas Bender; with essays by John Ashworth, David Brion Davis, and Thomas L. Haskell. University of California Press, c1992. HT1033 .A63 1992 and Electronic
Black Congressmen during Reconstruction: a Documentary Sourcebook / Stephen Middleton, ed.; foreword by John David Smith. Praeger, c2002. Reference E185.6 .B623 2002
The Bondsman's Burden: an Economic Analysis of the Common Law of Southern Slavery / Jenny Bourne Wahl. Cambridge University Press, c1998. KF4545 .S5 W34 1998
Bound for Canaan: the Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America / Fergus M. Bordewich. Amistad, c2005. E450 .B735 2005
Conscience and the Constitution: History, Theory, and Law of the Reconstruction Amendments / David A.J. Richards. Princeton University Press, c1993. KF4757 .R5 1993
The Constitution and Race / Donald E. Lively. Praeger, c1992. KF4755 .L57 1992
The Constitution, Law, and American Life: Critical Aspects of the Nineteenth-Century Experience / Donald G. Nieman, ed. University of Georgia Press, c1992. KF4541 .C587 1992
Dark Bargain: Slavery, Profits, and the Struggle for the Constitution / Lawrence Goldstone. Walker & Company; distributed by Holtzbrinck, c2005. KF4510 .G65 2005
The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 / Heather Cox Richardson. Harvard University Press, c2001. E668 .R5 2001
The Debate over Slavery: Antislavery and Proslavery Liberalism in Antebellum America / David F. Ericson. New York University Press, c2000. E449 .E73 2000
Double Character: Slavery and Mastery in the Antebellum Southern Courtroom / Ariela J. Gross. Princeton University Press, c2000. KF482 .G76 2000
Dred Scott and the Problem of Constitutional Evil / Mark A. Graber. Cambridge University Press, c2006. KF4545 .S5 G73 2006
Dred Scott v. Sandford: a Brief History with Documents / Paul Finkelman. Bedford Books, c1997. KF4545 .S5 F45 1997
Emancipation and Reconstruction / Paul Finkelman, ed. Garland Pub., c1992. KF4757 .R33 1992 v.3
The Emancipation Proclamation / John Hope Franklin. Harlan Davidson, c1995. E453 .F8 1995
The Emancipation Proclamation: Three Views (Social, Political, Iconographic) / Harold Holzer, Edna Greene Medford, and Frank J. Williams; foreword by John Hope Franklin. Louisiana State University Press, c2006. E453 .H645 2006
Forever Free: the Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction / Eric Foner ; with commentary by Joshua Brown. Knopf, c2005. E668 .F655 2005
The Fortunate Heirs of Freedom: Abolition & Republican Thought / Daniel J. McInerney. University of Nebraska Press, c1994. E449 .M474 1994
Free at Last: a Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War / Ira Berlin, et al., eds. New Press, c1992. E185.2 .F8 1992
Free to Work: Labor Law, Emancipation, and Reconstruction / James D. Schmidt. University of Georgia Press, c1998. KF3457 .S36 1998
Freedom's Lawmakers: a Directory of Black Officeholders during Reconstruction / Eric Foner. Louisiana State University Press, c1996. E185.96 .F64 1996
The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism: Ordinary Women in the Antislavery Movement / Julie Roy Jeffrey. University of North Carolina Press, c1998. E449 .J46 1998
The Great South Carolina Ku Klux Klan Trials, 1871-1872 / Lou Falkner Williams. University of Georgia Press, c1996. KF220 .W537 1996
Holy Warriors: the Abolitionists and American Slavery / James Brewer Stewart; Eric Foner, consulting ed. Hill and Wang, c1996. E446 .S83 1996
A House Divided: the Antebellum Slavery Debates in America, 1776-1865 / Mason I. Lowance, Jr., ed. Princeton University Press, c2003. E441 .H86 2003
In the Wake of Slavery: Civil War, Civil Rights, and the Reconstruction of Southern Law / Joseph A. Ranney. Praeger Publishers, c2006. KF4541 .R37 2006
Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession, and the President's War Powers / James F. Simon. Simon & Schuster, c2006. KF4545 .S5 S55 2006
Lincoln's Defense of Politics: the Public Man and His Opponents in the Crisis over Slavery / Thomas E. Schneider. University of Missouri Press, c2006. E457.2 .S37 2006
Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: the End of Slavery in America / Allen C. Guelzo. Simon & Schuster, c2004. E453 .G9 2004
Lincoln's Quest for Equality: the Road to Gettysburg / Carl F. Wieck. Northern Illinois University Press, c2002. E457.2 .W64 2002
Local Matters: Race, Crime, and Justice in the Nineteenth-Century South / Christopher Waldrep and Donald G. Nieman, eds. University of Georgia Press, c2001. KF4545 .S5 L63 2001
The Most Dangerous Branch: Slavery, the Courts, and the Constitution / Randall C. Young. Willow Bend Books, c2005. KF4545 .S5 Y68 2005
A Necessary Evil?: Slavery and the Debate over the Constitution / John P. Kaminski, ed. Madison House, c1995. KF4545 .S5 N43 1995
A New Birth of Freedom: Abraham Lincoln's Re-Election and the End of Slavery / David E. Long. PhD Thesis, Florida State University, 1993. E458.4 .L66 1993
Of One Blood: Abolitionism and the Origins of Racial Equality / Paul Goodman. University of California Press, c1998. E449 .G67 1998
A Peculiar Humanism: the Judicial Advocacy of Slavery in High Courts of the Old South, 1820-1850 / William E. Wiethoff. University of Georgia Press, c1996. KF4545 .S5 W55 1996
People without Rights: an Interpretation of the Fundamentals of the Law of Slavery in the U.S. South / Andrew Fede. Garland Pub., c1992. KF4545 .S5 F42 1992
Race and the Rise of the Republican Party, 1848-1865 / James D. Bilotta. P. Lang, c1992. E415.7 .B53 1992
Radical Abolitionism: Anarchy and the Government of God in Antislavery Thought / Lewis Perry. University of Tennessee Press, c1995. E449 .P46 1995
Reconstructing Reconstruction: the Supreme Court and the Production of Historical Knowledge / Pamela Teal Brandwein. PhD Thesis, Northwestern University, 1994. KF4541 .B686 1995
Reconstruction / Claudine L. Ferrell. Greenwood Press, c2003. E668 .F39 2003
The Reconstruction Desegregation Debate: the Politics of Equality and the Rhetoric of Place, 1870-1875 / Kirt H. Wilson. Michigan State University Press, c2002. E185.61 .W745 2002
The Reconstruction Era: Primary Documents on Events from 1865 to 1877 / Donna L. Dickerson, comp. Greenwood Press, c2003. E668 .D545 2003
Reconstruction in the United States: an Annotated Bibliography / David A. Lincove, comp. & annotator; foreword by Eric Foner. Greenwood Press, c2000. E668 .L56 2000
The Reconstruction Presidents / Brooks D. Simpson. University Press of Kansas, c1998. E668 .S58 1998
Roger Taney: the Dred Scott Legacy / Suzanne Freedman. Enslow Publishers, c1995. KF8745 .T3 F74 1995
Signatures of Citizenship: Petitioning, Antislavery, & Women's Political Identity / Susan Zaeske. University of North Carolina Press, c2003. HQ1236.5 .U6 Z34 2003
The Slaveholding Republic: an Account of the United States Government's Relations to Slavery / Don E. Fegrenbacher; Ward M. McAfee, comp. & ed. Oxford University Press, c2001. E446 .F45 2001
Slavery and Emancipation / Rick Halpern and Enrico Dal Lago, eds. Blackwell Pub., c2002. E441 .S6185 2002
Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson / Paul Finkelman. M.E. Sharpe, c2001. KF4545 .S5 F565 2001
Slavery and the Law / Paul Finkelman, ed. Madison House, c1997. KF4545 .S5 S577 1997
Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860 / Thomas D. Morris. University of North Carolina Press, c1996. KF482 .M67 1996
The Struggle against Slavery: a History in Documents / David Waldstreicher. Oxford University Press, c2001. E447 .W35 2001
Their Right To Speak: Women's Activism in the Indian and Slave Debates / Alisse Portnoy. Harvard University Press, c2004. KF4545 .S5 T74 2004
The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom: a Legal History / Alexander Tsesis. New York University Press, c2004. KF4545 .S5 T74 2004
Uncivil Wars: the Controversy over Reparations for Slavery / David Horowitz. Encounter Books, c2002. E185.8 .H83 2002
Union and Emancipation: Essays on Politics and Race in the Civil War Era / David W. Blight and Brooks D. Simpson, eds. Kent State University Press, c1997. E415.7 .U55 1997
Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America / Thomas G. West. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, c1997. E302.1 .W47 1997
When Is Labor Free?: Federal Freedmen's Policy, Freedom of Contract, and Free Labor Theory / Thomas J. Davis. American Bar Foundation, c1994? KF294 .A3 W6 no.9415
With Charity for All: Lincoln and the Restoration of the Union / William C. Harris. University Press of Kentucky, c1997. E668 .H37 1997
Witness for Freedom: African American Voices on Race, Slavery, and Emancipation / C. Peter Ripley, ed.; Roy E. Finkenbine, Michael F. Hembree, and Donald Yacovone, co-eds. University of North Carolina Press, c1993. E449 .W84 1993
Writings on Slavery and the American Civil War / Harriet Martineau; Deborah Anna Logan, ed. Northern Illinois University Press, c2002. E449 .M388 2002
Periodicals and Current Awareness Services
See the Finding Articles in Law Reviews, Journals and Other Legal Periodicals guide for an explanation of the legal periodical indexes and databases available to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law students and the CSU community. That guide covers print and electronic indexes, as well as electronic full-text journals. In particular, note OhioLINK's Electronic Journal Center and its 11 subject clusters, such as "Social Sciences," which includes Politics, Political Science, and Law journals, and "Arts and Humanities," which includes History journals.
Interdisciplinary Research
No matter what topic you select for your "Slavery or Reconstruction Law " research paper, to fully understand and appreciate the myriad issues involved in it, you will likely need to conduct interdisciplinary research in historical, cultural, social, economic, and/or political areas.
The OhioLINK state-wide library consortia provides access to over 100 Research Databases arranged in 40 topical groups. For example, the "Law and Legislation" group includes LexisNexis Academic; Oxford Reference, Law; Oxford Reference, Politics and Social Sciences; PAIS International; and Social Sciences Citation Index. The "History" group includes America: History and Life; American Periodicals Series Online; Historical Abstracts; and Oxford Reference, History. Both of these two topical groups include Dissertation Abstracts; Historic New York Times; New York Times; PapersFirst; ProceedingsFirst; and Social Sciences Citation Index. All of the OhioLINK topical Research Databases groups include WorldCat, an international library consortia catalog of over 43 million records of materials dating from 1000 BC to the present.
The Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library Web site includes links to numerous Legal Reference materials, Federal Legal Resources, and Ohio/Local Legal Resources, as well as Law Library Publications and Resource Guides. New Resource Guides, covering topics such as Legal History and Slavery Law, are being added on a continuous basis.
Web Searching and Resources
If you're inexperienced with searching the WorldWideWeb, or having poor luck doing so, consult the Web Searching guide available from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library Law Library Publications and Resource Guides page. It includes information on evaluating Web sites, principles and guidelines for Web searching, Web directories, Web search engines, Web metasearch engines, and the Invisible Web.
Key Law-Related and Legal Research Web sites concerning Slavery Law (with primary emphasis upon slavery in the United States) or legal aspects of the United States Reconstruction period include the following:
Authentic History Center
"Primary Sources from American Popular Culture." See the Antebellum, Civil War, and Post Civil War links.
Freedmen and Southern Society Project
Library of Congress: American Memory
See in particular the Government, Law Collection, Abraham Lincoln Papers, African American Odyssey, From Slavery to Freedom: the African-American Pamphlet Collection, 1824-1909, and Slaves and the Courts: 1740-1860 links.
Making of America
Full text of approximately 9,500 books and 50,000 articles from the 19th century.
South Texas College of Law: Faculty: Professor Profiles: Mark E. Steiner: Web Resources for American Legal History
See the Civil War Era and Slavery links.
Yale Center for International and Area Studies: Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, & Abolition
Yale Law School: Avalon Project at Yale Law School: Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy
See in particular Statutes of the United States Concerning Slavery.
Laura E. Ray, MA, MLS
Educational Programing Librarian
March 2007