Alison LaCroix, the Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law, has been awarded the American Historical Association’s (AHA) Littleton-Griswold Prize in American Law and Society for her 2024 book, The Interbellum Constitution: Union, Commerce, and Slavery in the Age of Federalisms.

The AHA is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States. It awards the Littleton-Griswold Prize annually for the best book in any subject on the history of American law and society.

The Interbellum Constitution, published last year by Yale University Press, delves into a critical but often overlooked period in American constitutional history—the years between 1815 and 1861. Despite the lack of amendments to the Constitution during these years, LaCroix reveals that this era, which she terms the “Interbellum Constitution,” was a pivotal phase of transformation that helped redefine the nation.

LaCroix will receive the award at AHA’s 139th annual meeting, which will take place in Chicago on January 8–11.

This is the second major book award LaCroix has received for the work. Last July, the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic recognized The Interbellum Constitution with its 2025 SHEAR Book Prize, which honors “"the book that makes the best primary scholarly contribution to the history of the early American republic."