The period between 1815 and 1861 witnessed a fundamental transformation in American constitutional debates. At the beginning of the era, contemporaries viewed themselves as living in a long founding moment based on a relatively stable conception of federalism. A half-century later, however, Americans were awash in controversies – over commerce, slavery, and the meaning of the Union – that defied the very notion that power could be divided between levels of government. The interbellum decades were a period of constitutional crisis as contemporaries grasped for a stable foundational principle to ground their shaky federal republic. Paradoxically, however, even amid the crisis, the rhetorical and ideological power of the Constitution in public debate increased.

This event is presented by the University of Chicago Graham School.

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