Person

Paul Finkelman

Bylines

America’s ‘Great Chief Justice’ Was an Unrepentant Slaveholder

John Marshall not only owned people; he owned many of them, and aggressively bought them when he could.

by Paul Finkelman via The Atlantic on June 15, 2021
Birthright Citizenship, Slave Trade Legislation, and the Origins of Federal Immigration Regulation

Opponents of birthright citizenship say there weren't any “illegal aliens” when the 14th Amendment was drafted. They're wrong.

by Gabriel Chin, Paul Finkelman via UC Davis Law Review on April 9, 2021
Original Sin: The Electoral College as a Pro-Slavery Tool

Slave states gave us the Electoral College; we should get rid of this vestige of the so-called peculiar institution.

by Paul Finkelman via Los Angeles Review of Books on December 19, 2016

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The Court’s Supreme Injustice

How John Marshall, Joseph Story, and Roger Taney strengthened the institution of slavery and embedded in the law a systemic hostility to fundamental freedom and basic justice.

by Allen Mendenhall via Los Angeles Review of Books on May 24, 2018

Broadside about the Fugitive Slave law.

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: Annotated

The Fugitive Slave Act erased the most basic of constitutional rights for enslaved people and incentivized US Commissioners to support kidnappers.

by Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on May 19, 2025

Newborn babies sleeping in a maternity ward.

The Coming Assault on Birthright Citizenship

The Constitution is absolutely clear on this point, but will that matter?

by Amanda Frost via The Atlantic on January 7, 2025

Drawing of the Constitutional Convention, by John W. Winkler.

Strange Political Bedfellows

The origins of the Electoral College are entwined with slavery, but not in the way that recent accounts have suggested.

by Mark McKibbin, Denver Brunsman via HNN on October 9, 2024

Map of the United States of America.

Remembering John Hope Franklin, OAH’s First Black President

The 2024 OAH Conference on American History falls almost fifteen years after the renowned historian, teacher, and activist's death.

by Rob Heinrich via OUPblog on April 9, 2024

The Patriot Slave

The dangerous myth that blacks in bondage chose not to be free in revolutionary America.

by Farah Peterson via The American Scholar on June 2, 2020

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