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ATTENTION GRADUATE STUDENTS! THE INSTITUTE FOR CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY ANNOUNCES THE ROBERT H. SMITH SEMINAR FOR SPRING 2010: THE CONSTITUTION AND THE ECONOMY James Surowiecki and John Fabian Witt DESCRIPTION: The United States Constitution is the foundation of the American economy. It sustains the property rights on which American markets rest. It shapes government regulation of those markets, too. But can a two hundred and twenty year old document support a twenty-first century economy? This seminar takes up the relationship between the Constitution and economic life in American history. It investigates the economic controversies that have surrounded the Constitution from its start, from the economic crises of the 1780s, to nineteenth-century battles over slavery, banking, the railroads, and national infrastructure; from the income tax, the Federal Reserve, and the New Deal state in the twentieth century, to global trade agreements, eminent domain, and climate regulation in the twenty-first. In examining the ways in which the Constitution has shaped (and been shaped by) the transformations in the U.S. economy, we hope to glean answers to one of the most pressing questions of our time: How can that same Constitution successfully accommodate the economic challenges of our future? INSTRUCTORS: James Surowiecki and John Fabian Witt will lead the seminar. James Surowiecki is a staff writer at the New Yorker, where he writes the popular bi-weekly business column “The Financial Page.” His work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including, among others, the New York Times Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wired, and Fortune. He is the author of the national bestseller The Wisdom of Crowds. Surowiecki is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and did graduate work in American history at Yale. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. John Fabian Witt is a Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He is the author of two books on the history of American law: Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law (Harvard Press, 2007), which explores law and nationhood at key moments in American history, and the prizewinning The Accidental Republic: Crippled Workingmen, Destitute Widows, and the Remaking of American Law (Harvard Press, 2004). His articles have appeared in the Columbia Law Review, the Harvard Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal, as well as in the New York Times, Slate, and the Washington Post. He is currently writing a book on the laws of war in American history from the Revolution to the Spanish-American War. Professor Witt is a graduate of Yale Law School and he holds a Ph.D. in history from Yale University. Until this year, he was the George Welwood Murray Professor of Legal History at Columbia University. MEETING DATES AND TIMES: Tuesday afternoons, 2:00–4:00 p.m., January 19, 26, February 2, 16, 23, and March 2, 2010. The seminar will meet at the New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York City. APPLICATION PROCEDURE: The seminar is designed for graduate students and junior faculty in history, political science, law, and related disciplines. All participants will be expected to complete the assigned readings and participate in seminar discussions. Although the Institute cannot offer academic credit directly for the seminar, students may be able to earn graduate credit through their home departments by completing an independent research project in conjunction with the seminar. Please consult with your advisor and/or director of graduate studies about these possibilities. Space is limited, so applicants should send a copy of their c.v. and a short statement on how this seminar will be useful to them in their research, teaching, or professional development. Materials will be accepted only by email at MMarcus@nyhistory.org until December 1, 2009. Successful applicants will be notified soon thereafter. For further information, please contact Maeva Marcus at (202) 994-6562 or e-mail icsgw@law.gwu.edu. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: There is no tuition or other charge for this seminar, though participants will be expected to acquire the assigned books on their own. Modest assistance with travel expenses from outside the New York metropolitan area will be available. ABOUT THE INSTITUTE: The Graduate Institute for Constitutional History is the nation’s premier institute dedicated to ensuring that future generations of Americans understand the substance and historical development of the U.S. Constitution. Located at the New-York Historical Society and the George Washington University Law School, the Institute is co-sponsored by the American Historical Association, Organization of American Historians, American Political Science Association, and Association of American Law Schools. The Institute prepares junior scholars and college instructors to convey to their readers and students the important role the Constitution has played in shaping American society. The Institute also provides a national forum for the preparation and dissemination of humanistic, interdisciplinary scholarship on American constitutional history. The Graduate Institute for Constitutional History is supported, in part, by a “We the People” challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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