Charles McCurdy of the University of Virginia gives an example of the complexities of land law in the antebellum U.S., using the case Brunson v. Kedzie to demonstrate the interplay and contradiction of state and federal laws.

Charles McCurdy of the University of Virginia offers an overview of the laws pertaining to mortgages and sale of land in the antebellum frontier areas.

To view this clip, select "Commercial Law and the Settlement of the Frontier" under "Economic Development and Labor Video."

Charles McCurdy of the University of Virginia overviews the federal land law covering division, sale, rights to, and distribution of new lands and resources in the antebellum West and Midwest.

To view this clip, select "Public Land Law and the Settlement of the Frontier" under "Economic Development and Labor Video."

Kathryn Kish Sklar of SUNY-Binghamton discusses the immigration of Germans and Irish to the U.S. during the antebellum period, to serve as members of the working class. Sklar considers immigrant labor as supporting the development of the new middle class, and also looks at the changing role of women in immigrant families.

To view this clip, select "Women's Changing Roles in Immigrant Families" under "Economic Development and Labor Video."

Kathryn Kish Sklar of SUNY-Binghamton discusses the change in family structure in the mid-19th century which heralded the institutionalization of the "Victorian family," in which the husband and the wife were seen as inhabiting separate "spheres" of work and home.

To listen to this lecture, select "Family Life and the Development of the Middle Classes in Antebellum America" under "Economic Development and Labor Video."

Edward L. Ayers of the University of Virginia looks at the early antebellum support of African colonization as an answer to U.S. racial tensions, and considers it as a possible root of the later abolitionist movement.

To listen to this lecture, select "The Movement of African-American Colonization" under "African-American Experience Video."

Edward L. Ayers of the University of Virginia discusses the movement of religions, ways of life, racial attitudes, and other cultural aspects into frontier areas. Ayers focuses specifically on the movement of race-related concepts into Illinois, including a general resistance to slaveholding and a general unfriendliness to free blacks. He also mentions how politicians, such as Abraham Lincoln, had to take care to tailor their political messages for particular regions.

To listen to this lecture, select "Southerners on the Frontier," and scroll to "African-American Experience Videos."

Charles McCurdy of the University of Virginia follows the progression of the U.S. Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandford up the U.S. court system, detailing the legal precedents and state laws that determined each decision and each step along the way. This lecture continues from the lecture "The Dred Scott Case, Part One: Background."

To listen to this lecture, select "The Dred Scott Case, Part Two: Taney's Decision" under "African-American Experience Video."

Charles McCurdy of the University of Virginia outlines the legal cases that preceded the U.S. Supreme Court Case Dred Scott v. Sandford. McCurdy looks at the support, until the 1830s, of the master's side of cases involving slaves suing for freedom following time spent in a free state; the support, beginning in the 1830s, of the slave's side of such cases in free states; the life of Dred Scott prior to the case; and the climbing of the case up the U.S. court system.

Charles McCurdy of the University of Virginia discusses the ways in which states originally legally established or abolished slavery. He discusses particularly the gradual abolition of slavery (based on age and date of birth of African Americans) in states including Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.