Federal Trials and Great Debates in United States History

Description

Designed especially for secondary school teachers of U.S. history, law, and civics/government, the institute will deepen participants' knowledge of the federal judiciary and of the role the federal courts have played in key public controversies that have defined constitutional and other legal rights. Participants will work closely throughout the institute with leading historians, federal judges, and curriculum consultants. Confirmed faculty include Michael Klarman, Kirkland & Ellis Professor, Harvard Law School and Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law, George Washington University.

To explore the theme of "Seeking Social Change Through the Courts," the institute will focus on these three landmark federal trials: Woman suffrage and the trial of Susan B. Anthony, Chinese Exclusions Acts and Chew Heong v. United States, and the desegregation of New Orleans schools and Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board.

Contact name
Kaplan, Howard
Contact email
Registration Deadline
Sponsoring Organization
American Bar Association Division for Public Education; Federal Judicial Center
Phone number
312-988-5738
Target Audience
Secondary
Start Date
Cost
Free
Duration
Six days
End Date

John Peter Zenger

Description

This iCue Mini-Documentary introduces newspaper printer John Peter Zenger, who tested the freedom of the press long before the first amendment was written. He commited sedition against the governor, but he was acquitted by a jury which favored free speech.

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The Story of Emmett Till

Description

NBC Narrator Rosalind Jordan looks back at the story of Emmett Till, who was 14 when he left Chicago to visit his family in the segregated South. Two white men accused Till of making a pass at Bryant's wife, Carolyn, and Till was brutally murdered.

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Slaves and the Courts, 1740-1860

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More than 100 published materials on legal aspects of slavery are available on this website. These include 8,700 pages of court decisions and arguments, reports, proceedings, journals, and a letter. Most of the pamphlets and books pertain to American cases in the 19th century. Additional documents address the slave trade, slave codes, the Fugitive Slave Law, and slave insurrections as well as presenting courtroom proceedings from famous trials such as the 18th-century Somerset v. Stewart case in England, the Amistad case, the Denmark Vesey conspiracy trial, and trials of noted abolitionists John Brown and William Lloyd Garrison. A special presentation discusses the slave code in the District of Columbia. Searchable by keyword, subject, author, and title, this site is valuable for studying legal history, African American history, and 19th-century American history.

Chicago Anarchists on Trial: Evidence from the Haymarket Affair, 1886-1887

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This collection of documents—roughly 3,800 pages of court proceedings—concerns the Haymarket Affair. This watershed event in the history of American radicalism led to the first "Red Scare" in America. Materials include autobiographies of two of the eight anarchists tried for conspiracy in the murder of seven Chicago police officers. The officers died after a bomb exploded at an anarchist meeting in May 1886, the day after two workers died in a struggle between police and locked-out union members at the McCormick Reaper factory. Four defendants were executed, despite lack of evidence connecting them to the bombing. The site presents approximately 221 newspaper clippings, 55 photographs, 19 letters, nine broadsides, and images of more than 20 artifacts. A linked exhibition, "The Dramas of Haymarket," furnishes a historical narrative and contextual interpretation. This website is valuable for the study of late 19th-century American radicalism, law enforcement, and political climate.

Famous Trials

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This exceptional legal history site presents balanced treatments of over 50 prominent court trials. Trials include: Salem witchcraft (1692); Burr conspiracy (1807); Amistad (1839–1840); Dakota conflict (1862); Lincoln conspiracy (1865); Johnson impeachment (1868); and Susan B. Anthony (1873). 20th-century trials include: Bill Haywood (1907); Sacco and Vanzetti (1921); Scopes (1925); Scottsboro Boys (1931–1937); Rosenbergs (1951); Lenny Bruce (1964); "Mississippi Burning" (1967); Chicago Seven (1969–70); My Lai courts martial (1970); LAPD officers (1992); O. J. Simpson (1995); Clinton impeachment (1999); and Moussaoui's 9/11 trial (2006).

Each trial website includes a chronology, maps, and court documents, including transcripts of testimony, media coverage, depositions, and government documents. Most cases also contain images, links to related websites, and a bibliography. Biographies center on five "trial heroes," including trial lawyer Clarence Darrow. "Exploring Constitutional Law" offers 83 important constitutional topics for class discussion.