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Biography
B.A., Syracuse University
M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago
Fellow in Law and Humanities, Harvard Law School

A specialist in American legal history, constitutional law, and race and the law, Professor Paul Finkelman is the author of more than 150 scholarly articles and more than 30 books. His op-eds and shorter pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, and on the Huffington Post. He was recently named the ninth most cited legal historian according to "Brian Leieter's Law School Rankings."

He is an expert in constitutional history and constitutional law, freedom of religion, the law of slavery, civil liberties and the American Civil War, and legal issues surrounding baseball. He has written extensively on Thomas Jefferson and on Abraham Lincoln. Professor Finkelman was the chief expert witness in the Alabama Ten Commandments monument case and his scholarship on religious monuments in public spaces was cited by the U.S. Supreme Court in Van Orden v. Perry (2005). His scholarship on the Second Amendment has also been cited by the Supreme Court. In 2002 he was a key expert witness in the suit over who owned Barry Bonds' 73rd home run ball.

C-SPAN was on the Albany Law School campus in fall 2010 to tape Professor Paul Finkelman's two-hour class on the Dred Scott case. The program aired nationally and is now part of C-Span’s series on American History. He has also appeared on other C-Span programs, on PBS, and the History Channel.

Curriculum Vitae (.pdf)
Lectures
Professor Finkelman is frequently featured at numerous speaking engagements around the country. For a full and accurate list of these engagements, visit his personal website.

Books

CONGRESS AND THE CRISIS OF THE 1850s. Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2012
The Appeasement of 1850, in CONGRESS AND THE CRISIS OF THE 1850’s (Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2012): 36-79
Justice and Legal Change on the Shores of Lake Erie: A History of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Co-edited with Roberta Sue Alexander, Ohio University Press, 2012)
A MARCH OF LIBERTY: A CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Co-Authored with Melvin I. Urofsky. 2 vols. 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
IN THE SHADOW OF FREEDOM: THE POLITICS OF SLAVERY IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2011
Constitutional Law in Context, Third Edition, by Michael Kent Curtis, J. Wilson Parker, Davison M. Douglas, Paul Finkelman, William G. Ross (Carolina Academic Press, 2011)
AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY: CASES AND MATERIALS. Co-authored with James W. Ely, Jr., (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). 4th edition
THE DRED SCOTT CASE: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON RACE AND LAW. Co-edited with David Thomas Konig and Christopher Alan Bracey. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010.
A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE CASE AND TRYAL OF JOHN PETER ZENGER. Boston: Bedford Books, 2010
MILESTONE DOCUMENTS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: EXPLORING THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF NOTABLE AMERICANS. Editor-in-Chief. 4 vols. Dallas, TX: Schlager Group, 2010
THE POLITICAL LINCOLN: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Co-edited with Martin J. Hershock. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, 1896 TO THE PRESENT: FROM THE AGE OF SEGREGATION TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. Editor-in-Chief. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNITED STATES INDIAN POLICY AND LAW. Co-edited with Tim Alan Garrison. 2 vols. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009
CONGRESS AND THE EMERGENCE OF SECTIONALISM: FROM THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE TO THE AGE OF JACKSON. Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2008
TERRORISM, GOVERNMENT, AND LAW: NATIONAL AUTHORITY AND LOCAL AUTONOMY IN THE WAR ON TERROR. Co-edited with Susan N. Herman. Westport, CN: Praeger Security International, 2008
LANDMARK DECISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. 2nd Edition. With Melvin I. Urofsky. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008.
DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL HISTORY. Co-edited with Melvin I. Urofsky. 2 vols. 3rd edition. New York: Oxford, 2008
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES. Editor-in-Chief. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2006
THE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN LAW. Co-edited with Martin J. Hershock. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2006. Recipient of Annual Book Award from the Michigan Historical Society, 2007; Designated a Michigan Notable Book for 2007 by the Library of Michigan
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW AMERICAN NATION. Editor-in-Chief. 3 vols. Detroit: Charles Scribners Sons/Gale, 2006
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW IN CONTEXT. With Michael Kent Curtis, J. Wilson Parker and Davison M. Douglas. 2 vols. 2nd ed., Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2006
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, 1619-1895: FROM THE COLONIAL PERIOD TO THE AGE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. Editor-in-Chief. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006
TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD: THE LEGACY OF JOHN BROWN. Co-edited with Peggy A. Russo. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2005
AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY: CASES AND MATERIALS. With Kermit L. Hall and James W. Ely, Jr. New York: Oxford University Press, 3rd ed. 2005
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE. Co-edited with Cary D. Wintz. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 2004
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CIVIL WAR DESK REFERENCE. Co-edited with Margaret Wagner and Gary W. Gallagher. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002
A MARCH OF LIBERTY: A CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. With Melvin I. Urofsky. 2 vols. New York: Oxford, 2002
SLAVERY AND THE FOUNDERS: RACE AND LIBERTY IN THE AGE OF JEFFERSON. 2nd ed., Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2001
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY. Co-edited with Peter Wallenstein. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2001
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 3 Vols. Editor-in-Chief. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001
IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY FROM 1787 TO THE PRESENT. With Emily Van Tassel. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998.
RELIGION AND AMERICAN LAW: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Editor. New York: Garland, 2000
MACMILLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD SLAVERY. 2 Vols. Co-edited with Joseph C. Miller. New York: Macmillan, 1998.
DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD: A BRIEF HISTORY WITH DOCUMENTS. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997
BASEBALL AND THE AMERICAN LEGAL MIND. With Spencer Waller and Neil Cohen. New York: Garland, 1995
RACE AND LAW IN AMERICAN HISTORY: LEADING ARTICLES. Editor and author of Introductions. 11 vols. (Garland, 1992)
TOWARD A USABLE PAST: LIBERTY UNDER STATE CONSTITUTIONS. Co-Edited with Stephen Gottlieb. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1991
TOWARD A USABLE PAST, (editor, with Paul Finkelman) (University of Georgia Press, 1991)
SLAVERY, RACE, AND THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM, 1700-1872. Editor and author of introductions. 16 vols. (Garland, 1988). (Reprint, Lawbook Exchange, 2007)
THE LAW OF FREEDOM AND BONDAGE: A CASEBOOK. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Press and NYU School of Law, 1986
SLAVERY IN THE COURTROOM. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1985.
AN IMPERFECT UNION: SLAVERY, FEDERALISM, AND COMITY. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1981. Reprint, Law Book Exchange, 2001

Publications

"The Origins of Colorism in Early American Law" in Kimberly Jade Norwood, ed., Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Post-Racial America (New York and London: Routledge, 2014) 29-43
Review: "Francis Lieber and the Modern Law of War," University of Chicago Law Review, forthcoming
Chapter: States' Rights, Southern Hypocrisy, and the Crisis of the Union, UNION & STATES' RIGHTS: A HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION OF INTERPOSITION, NULLIFICATION, AND SECESSION 150 YEARS AFTER SUMTER, Neil H. Cogan, editor (Law & Legal Thought Across Disciplines Published in Cooperation with The University of Akron School of Law)(2013)
Review, The Tribunal: Responses to John Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid, THE FEDERAL LAWYER, July 2013
Chapter: "The Coming of the Emancipation Proclamation" in The New York Times: Disunion, a collection of 106 articles from The New York Times Opinionator blog edited by Ted Widmer with Clay Risen and George Kalogerakis.
Slavery's Constitution: The Creation of America's Covenant with Death in IS THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION OBSOLETE? (ed. Thomas J. Main) (Carolina Academic Press 2013)
How the Proslavery Constitution Led to the Civil War, 43 Rutgers Law Journal 405 (2013)
“I Could Not Afford to Hang a Man For Votes”: Lincoln the Lawyer, Humanitarian Concerns, and the Dakota Pardons, 39 William Mitchell Law Review 405-449 (2013)
FRANKLIN JOHNSON, THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATE LEGISLATION CONCERNING THE FREE NEGRO. Introduction to reprint edition. Clark, N.J.: The Lawbook Exchange, 2012
Chapter: "From Slavery to Freedom in a Galaxy Far, Far Away" in Star Wars and History (ed. Nancy R. Reagin and Janice Liedl) (John Wiley and Sons, 2012) pp. 228-53
“Slavery,” co-authored with Seymour Drescher, Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters, eds., The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (Oxford, Eng: Oxford University Press, 2012) pp. 890-917
Toleration and Diversity in New Netherland and the Duke's Colony: The Roots of America's First Disestablishment, in T. Jeremy Gunn and John Witte, Jr. eds., NO ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION: AMERICA'S ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION TO RELIGIOUS LIBERTY (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) 125-157
CONGRESS AND THE CRISIS OF THE 1850s. Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2012
The Appeasement of 1850, in CONGRESS AND THE CRISIS OF THE 1850’s (Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2012): 36-79
Slavery, co-authored with Seymour Drescher in, eds. THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF THE HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (eds. Bardo Fassbender and Anne Peters) (Oxford, Eng.: Oxford University Press, 2012), Chap. 37
Justice and Legal Change on the Shores of Lake Erie: A History of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (Co-edited with Roberta Sue Alexander, Ohio University Press, 2012)
Slavery in the United States: Persons or Property? in THE LEGAL UNDERSTANDING OF SLAVERY FROM THE HISTORICAL TO THE CONTEMPORARY (ed. Jean Allain) (Oxford, Eng.: Oxford University Press, 2012), 105-134
Introduction, Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States: 1889 - 1918 (NAACP, new edition, 2012)
Defining Slavery Under a 'Government Instituted for the Protection of the Rights of Mankind' 35 Hamline Law Review 551-590 (2012)
Coming to Terms with Dred Scott: A Response to Daniel A. Farber, 39 PEPPERDINE LAW REVIEW 495-74 (2012) papers.cfm
The Roots of Religious Freedom in Early America: Religous Toleration and Diversity in New Netherland and Colonial New York, 34 NANZAN REVIEW OF AMERICAN STUDIES 1-26 (2012)
States' Rights, Southern Hypocrisy, and the Crisis of the Union, 45 Akron Law Review 449 (2012)papers.cfm
John Brown: America’s First Terrorist?, in 43 Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration, 16-27 (Spring 2011)
Slavery, the Constitution, and the Origins of the Civil War, Organization of American Historians Magazine of History 2011 25: 14-18
A MARCH OF LIBERTY: A CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Co-Authored with Melvin I. Urofsky. 2 vols. 3rd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
The Cost of Compromise and the Covenant with Death, 38 Pepperdine Law Review 845-888 (2011)papers.cfm
IN THE SHADOW OF FREEDOM: THE POLITICS OF SLAVERY IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2011
Constitutional Law in Context, Third Edition, by Michael Kent Curtis, J. Wilson Parker, Davison M. Douglas, Paul Finkelman, William G. Ross (Carolina Academic Press, 2011)
AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY: CASES AND MATERIALS. Co-authored with James W. Ely, Jr., (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). 4th edition
"The Civil War, Emancipation, and the Thirteenth Amendment: Understanding Who Freed the Slaves" in, PROMISES OF LIBERTY: THE HISTORY AND CONTEMPORARY RELEVANCE OF THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT, ed. Alexander Tsesis, Columbia University Press 2010.
United States Slave Law, in THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS 424-446 (Robert L. Parquette and Mark M. Smith, eds.) (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010)
"A Land that Needs People for its Increase": How the Jews Won the Right to Remain in New Netherland, in NEW ESSAYS IN AMERICAN JEWISH HISTORY 19-50 and 488-496 [notes] (Pamela S. Nadell, Jonathan D. Sarna, and Lance J. Sussman, eds.) (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 2010)
THE DRED SCOTT CASE: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON RACE AND LAW. Co-edited with David Thomas Konig and Christopher Alan Bracey. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010.
The Strange Career of Dred Scott: From Fort Armstrong to Guantanamo Bay, in THE DRED SCOTT CASE: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES ON RACE AND LAW (Co-edited with David Thomas Konig and Christopher Alan Bracey) (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010) 227-251
RACE AND THE CONSTITUTION: FROM THE PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION TO THE AGE OF SEGREGATION, (Washington, D.C., American Historical Association, 2010)
When International Law Was a Domestic Problem, 44 VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 779-823 (2010)
The First Federal Human Rights Legislation: Suppressing the African Slave Trade, 3 THE CRIT 20-63 (2010) (electronically published at thecritui.com).
Introduction: Symposium on Lincoln's Legacy: Enduring Lessons of Executive Power (co-authored with Ali A. Chaudhry), 3 ALBANY GOVERNMENT LAW REVIEW ix-xiv (2010).
A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE CASE AND TRYAL OF JOHN PETER ZENGER. Boston: Bedford Books, 2010
Breaking the Back of Segregation: Whyh Sweatt Matters, 36 Thurgood Marshall Law Review 7-37 (2010) (published in 2012)papers.cfm
Barack Hussein Obama-An Inspiration of Hope, an Agent for Change, in AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE PRESIDENCY: THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE (Bruce Glasrud and Cary D. Wintz eds.) (New York: Routledge 2010) 207-228.
MILESTONE DOCUMENTS IN AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: EXPLORING THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF NOTABLE AMERICANS. Editor-in-Chief. 4 vols. Dallas, TX: Schlager Group, 2010
THE POLITICAL LINCOLN: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Co-edited with Martin J. Hershock. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009
MILESTONE DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN LEADERS: EXPLORING THE PRIMARY SOURCES OF NOTABLE AMERICANS. Editor-in-Chief. 4 vols. Dallas, TX: Schlager Group, Inc., 2009
The Constitution, the Supreme Court, and History, 88 Texas Law Review 353-390 (2009)papers.cfm
John McLean: Moderate Abolitionist and Supreme Court Politician, 62 Vanderbilt Law Review 519-65 (2009)papers.cfm
The American Suppression of the Slave African Slave Trade: Lessons on Legal Change, Social Policy, and Legislation, 42 Akron Law Review 433-470 (2009)papers.cfm
Race, Federalism, and Diplomacy: The Gentlemen's Agreement a Century Later, 56 Osaka University Law Review 1-30 (2009)papers.cfm
Lincoln and the Preconditions for Emancipation: The Moral Grandeur of a Bill of Lading, in LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION: RACE, PLACE, AND THE PARADOXES OF EMANCIPATION (William A. Blair and Karen Fisher Younger, eds.) (University of North Carolina Press, 2009) 13-44
The Centrality of Brown, in CHOOSING EQUALITY: ESSAYS AND NARRATIVES ON THE DESEGREGATION EXPERIENCE (Robert L. Hayman, Jr. and Leland Ware, eds.) (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009) 224-245.papers.cfm
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, 1896 TO THE PRESENT: FROM THE AGE OF SEGREGATION TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY. Editor-in-Chief. 5 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009
JAMES HARMON CHADBOURN, LYNCHING AND THE LAW. Introduction to reprint edition. (Lawbook Exchange, 2008).
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF UNITED STATES INDIAN POLICY AND LAW. Co-edited with Tim Alan Garrison. 2 vols. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009
CONGRESS AND THE EMERGENCE OF SECTIONALISM: FROM THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE TO THE AGE OF JACKSON. Co-edited with Donald R. Kennon. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2008
TERRORISM, GOVERNMENT, AND LAW: NATIONAL AUTHORITY AND LOCAL AUTONOMY IN THE WAR ON TERROR. Co-edited with Susan N. Herman. Westport, CN: Praeger Security International, 2008
It Really Was About a Well Regulated Militia, 59 Syracuse Law Review 267-82 (2008).papers.cfm
School Vouchers, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Williams, and Protecting the Faithful: Warnings from the Eighteenth Century and the Seventeenth Century on the Danger of Establishments to Religious Communities, 2008 Brigham Young University Law Review 525-555 (2008).papers.cfm
Regulating the African Slave Trade, 54 Civil War History 379-405 (2008)papers.cfm
Dred Scott v. Sandford: The Case that Made Lincoln President, Lincoln Lore, No. 1892 (Spring 2008) 2-9papers.cfm
Lincoln, Emancipation and the Limits of Constitutional Change, 2008 Supreme Court Review 349-387 (2008)papers.cfm
MILESTONE DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY: EXPLORING THE PRIMARY SOURCES THAT SHAPED AMERICA. Editor-in-Chief. 4 vols. Dallas, TX: Schlager Group, Inc., 2008
Was Dred Scott Correctly Decided? An ‘Expert Report' For the Defendant, 12 Lewis & Clark Law Review 1219-1252 (2008).papers.cfm
Symposium on America's Constitution: A Biography, 59 Syracuse Law Review 49-55 (2008)
Foreign Law and American Constitutional Interpretation: A Long and Venerable Tradition, 63 NYU Annual Survey of American Law 29-62 (2007).papers.cfm
LANDMARK DECISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT. 2nd Edition. With Melvin I. Urofsky. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2008.
Scott v. Sandford: The Court's Most Dreadful Case and How it Changed History, 82 Chicago-Kent Law Review 3-48 (2007).
Kermit L. Hall: A Life in Legal History and Scholarship, 57 Syracuse Law Review 357-59 (2007)
FRANKLIN JOHNSON, THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATE LEGISLATION CONCERNING THE FREE NEGRO. Introduction to reprint edition. (Lawbook Exchange, 2007)
W.E.B. DUBOIS, JOHN BROWN. Introduction to reprint edition. (Oxford University Press, 2007)
DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL HISTORY. Co-edited with Melvin I. Urofsky. 2 vols. 3rd edition. New York: Oxford, 2008
Lemuel Shaw: The Shaping of State Law, in NOBLE PURPOSES: NINE CHAMPIONS OF THE RULE OF LAW 339-49 (Norman Gross, ed.) (Ohio University Press, 2006)
The Significance and Persistence of Proslavery Thought, in THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: SLAVERY, FREEDOM, AND THE AMBIGUITY OF AMERICAN REFORM 95-114 (Steven Mintz and John Stauffer, eds.) (University of Massachusetts Press, 2007).
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES. Editor-in-Chief. 3 vols. New York: Routledge, 2006
Thomas Jefferson, Original Intent, and the Shaping American Law: Learning Constitutional Law from the Writings of Jefferson, 62 NYU Annual Survey of American Law 45-84 (2006)
The Dragon St. George Could Not Slay: Tucker's Plan to End Slavery, 47 William and Mary Law Review 1213-1243 (2006).papers.cfm
Anthony Burns, Judge Loring, Harvard Law School, and the Fugitive Slave Law in Boston, 10 Massachusetts Legal History 53-88 (2004) [2006]
Ohio's Struggle for Equality Before the Civil War, 23 Timeline 28-43 (2006)
THE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN LAW. Co-edited with Martin J. Hershock. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2006. Recipient of Annual Book Award from the Michigan Historical Society, 2007; Designated a Michigan Notable Book for 2007 by the Library of Michigan
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NEW AMERICAN NATION. Editor-in-Chief. 3 vols. Detroit: Charles Scribners Sons/Gale, 2006
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW IN CONTEXT. With Michael Kent Curtis, J. Wilson Parker and Davison M. Douglas. 2 vols. 2nd ed., Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2006
The Promise of Equality and the Limits of Law: From the Civil War to World War II, in THE HISTORY OF MICHIGAN LAW 187-213 (Paul Finkelman and Martin J. Hershock, eds.) (Ohio University Press, 2006)
JOHN CODMAN HURD, THE LAW OF FREEDOM AND BONDAGE. Introduction to reprint edition. (Lawbook Exchange, 2006)
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY, 1619-1895: FROM THE COLONIAL PERIOD TO THE AGE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. Editor-in-Chief. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006
What is Federalism and What Does It Have to do with Civil Rights?, in AWAKENING FROM THE DREAM: CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER SIEGE AND THE NEW STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL JUSTICE 3-24 (Denise C. Morgan, Rachel D. Godsil, and Joy Moses, eds.) (Carolina Academic Press, 2006)
Dred Scott v. Sandford, in THE PUBLIC DEBATE OVER CONTROVERSIAL SUPREME COURT DECISIONS 24-33 (Melvin I. Urofsky, ed.) (CQ Press, 2006)papers.cfm
TERRIBLE SWIFT SWORD: THE LEGACY OF JOHN BROWN. Co-edited with Peggy A. Russo. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2005
Lieber, Slavery, and the Problem of Free Thought in Antebellum South Carolina, in FRANCIS LIEBER AND THE CULTURE OF THE MIND 11-22 (Charles R. Mack and Henry H. Lesesne, eds.) (University of South Carolina Press, 2005papers.cfm
The Taney Court, 1836-1864: The Jurisprudence of Slavery and the Crisis of the Union, in THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT: THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE 75-99 (Christopher Tomlins, ed.) (Houghton Mifflin, 2005papers.cfm
AMERICAN LEGAL HISTORY: CASES AND MATERIALS. With Kermit L. Hall and James W. Ely, Jr. New York: Oxford University Press, 3rd ed. 2005
Civil Rights in Historical Context: In Defense of Brown, 118 Harvard Law Review 973-1027 (2005)papers.cfm
The Ten Commandments on the Courthouse Lawn and Elsewhere, 73 Fordham Law Review 1477-1520 (2005)papers.cfm
Race, Slavery, and the Law in Antebellum Ohio, in 2 THE HISTORY OF OHIO LAW 748-81 (Michael Les Benedict and John F. Winkler, eds.) (Ohio University Press, 2004)
Abraham Lincoln: Prairie Lawyer, in AMERICA'S LAWYER PRESIDENTS: FROM LAW OFFICE TO THE OVAL OFFICE 128-137 (Norman Gross, ed.) (Northwestern University Press, 2004)papers.cfm
The Strange Career of Race Discrimination in Antebellum Ohio, 55 Case Western Reserve University Law Review 373-408 (2004)
The Radicalism of Brown, 66 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 35-56 (2004)papers.cfm
The Roots of Printz: Proslavery Constitutionalism, National Law Enforcement, Federalism, and Local Cooperation, 69 Brooklyn Law Review 1399 (2004)papers.cfm
The Historical Context of the Fourteenth Amendment, 13 Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review 389-409 (2004)papers.cfm
Locke v. Davy in Historical Perspective: A Brief Introduction, 40 Tulsa Law Review 219-225 (2004)papers.cfm
FREDERICK L. HOFFMAN, RACE TRAITS AND TENDENCIES OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO. Introduction to reprint edition. (Lawbook Exchange, 2004)
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE. Co-edited with Cary D. Wintz. 2 vols. New York: Routledge, 2004
DEFENDING SLAVERY: PROSLAVERY THOUGHT IN THE OLD SOUTH. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003
The Root of the Problem: How The Proslavery Constitution Shaped American Race Relations, 4 Barry Law Review 1-19 (2003)papers.cfm
Limiting Rights in Times of Crisis: Our Civil War Experience - A History Lesson for a Post-9-11 America, 2 Cardozo Public Law, Policy, and Ethics Journal 25-48 (2003).papers.cfm
John Bingham and the Background to the Fourteenth Amendment, 36 Akron Law Review 671-692 (2003)papers.cfm
Race and Domestic International Law in the United States, 17 National Black Law Journal 25-51 (2003).papers.cfm
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CIVIL WAR DESK REFERENCE. Co-edited with Margaret Wagner and Gary W. Gallagher. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2002
A MARCH OF LIBERTY: A CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. With Melvin I. Urofsky. 2 vols. New York: Oxford, 2002
Picture Perfect: The First Amendment Trumps Congress in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 38 Tulsa Law Review 243-261 (2002)papers.cfm
Baseball and the Rule of Law Revisited, 25 Thomas Jefferson Law Review 17-52 (2002)papers.cfm
Fugitive Baseballs and Abandoned Property: Who Owns the Home Run Ball?, 23 Cardozo Law Review 1609-1633 (2002)papers.cfm
Speech, Press and Democracy, 10 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 813-826 (2002)
Joseph Story and the Problem of Slavery: A New Englander's Nationalist Dilemma, 8 Massachusetts Legal History 65-84 (2002)papers.cfm
The Proslavery Origins of the Electoral College, 23 Cardozo Law Review 1145-1157 (2002)papers.cfm
A Well Regulated Militia: The Second Amendment in Historical Perspective, in THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN LAW AND HISTORY: HISTORIANS AND CONSTITUTIONAL SCHOLARS ON THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS 117-148 (Carl T. Bogus, ed.) (The New Press, 2000)
SLAVERY AND THE FOUNDERS: RACE AND LIBERTY IN THE AGE OF JEFFERSON. 2nd ed., Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2001
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY. Co-edited with Peter Wallenstein. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2001
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE UNITED STATES IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 3 Vols. Editor-in-Chief. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001
Taking Aim at an American Myth, 99 Michigan Law Review 1500-1519 (2001)
The Founders and Slavery: Little Ventured, Little Gained, 13 Yale Journal of Law and the Humanities 413-449 (2001)papers.cfm
Turning Losers into Winners: What Can We Learn, If Anything, From the Antifederalists? 79 Texas Law Review 849-894 (2001)
Garrison's Constitution: The Covenant with Death and How It Was Made, 32 PROLOGUE 230-245
John Hope Franklin, in CLIO'S FAVORITES: LEADING HISTORIANS OF THE UNITED STATES 1945-2000 49-67 (Robert Allen Rutland, ed.) (University of Missouri Press, 2000)papers.cfm
IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY FROM 1787 TO THE PRESENT. With Emily Van Tassel. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998.
RELIGION AND AMERICAN LAW: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Editor. New York: Garland, 2000
A Well Regulated Militia: The Second Amendment in Historical Perspective, 76 Chicago-Kent Law Review 195-236 (2000)papers.cfm
You Can't Always Get What You Want . . .: Presidential Elections and Supreme Court Appointments, 35 Tulsa Law Journal 473-483 (2000)papers.cfm
Teaching Slavery in American Constitutional Law, 34 Akron Law Review 261-282 (2000)papers.cfm
On Cinqué and the Historians, 87 THE JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY 940-946 (2000)
THOMAS R.R. COBB, AN INQUIRY INTO THE LAW OF NEGRO SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SLAVERY. Introduction to reprint edition. (University of Georgia Press, 1999)
Thomas R.R. Cobb and the Law of Negro Slavery, 5 Roger Williams Law Review 75-115 (1999).
Cultural Speech and Political Speech in Historical Perspective, 79 Boston University Law Review 717-743 (1999).papers.cfm
Affirmative Action for the Master Class: The Creation of the Proslavery Constitution, 32 Akron Law Review 423-470 (1999).papers.cfm
MACMILLAN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD SLAVERY. 2 Vols. Co-edited with Joseph C. Miller. New York: Macmillan, 1998.
HENRY ST. GEORGE TUCKER. COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF VIRGINIA. Introduction to reprint edition, with David Cobin. 2 vols. (Lawbook Exchange, 1998).
Between Scylla and Charybdis: Anarchy, Tyranny and the Debate over a Bill of Rights, in THE BILL OF RIGHTS: GOVERNMENT PROSCRIBED 103-74 (Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, eds.) (University Press of Virginia, 1997)papers.cfm
The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Federalism, in FEDERALISTS RECONSIDERED 135-156 (Doron Ben-Atar and Barbara Oberg, eds.) (Univ. Press of Virginia, 1998)papers.cfm
Baseball and the Rule of Law, 46 Cleveland State Law Review 239-59 (1998)
Crimes of Love, Misdemeanors of Passion: The Regulation of Race and Sex in the Colonial South, in THE DEVIL'S LANE: SEX AND RACE IN THE EARLY SOUTH 124-38 (Catherine Clinton and Michele Gillespie, eds.) (Oxford University Press, 1997)papers.cfm
ST. GEORGE TUCKER. TUCKER'S BLACKSTONE. Introduction to reprint edition, with David Cobin. 5 vols. (Lawbook Exchange, 1997).
SLAVERY AND THE LAW. Editor and author of two chapters. Madison, WI: Madison House, 1997
Prigg v. Pennsylvania: Understanding Justice Story's Pro-Slavery Nationalism, 2 Journal of Supreme Court History 51-64 (1997)
A BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE TRYAL OF JOHN PETER ZENGER. Edited with an introduction. St. James, NY: Bradywine Press, 1997
DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD: A BRIEF HISTORY WITH DOCUMENTS. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997
The Rise of the New Racism, 15 Yale Law and Policy Review 245-82 (1996)
Intentionalism, The Founders and Constitutional Interpretation, 75 Texas Law Review 435-81 (1996).papers.cfm
The Dred Scott Case, Slavery, and the Politics of Law, 20 Hamline Law Review 1-42 (1996)
Legal Ethics and Fugitive Slaves: The Anthony Burns Case, Judge Loring, and Abolitionist Attorneys, 17 Cardozo Law Review 1793-1858 (1996)papers.cfm
The Dred Scott Case, Slavery, and the Politics of Law, 18 Nanzan Review of American Studies (Published at Nanzan University, Nogaya, Japan) 27-68 (1996).
German Victims and American Oppressors: The Cultural Background and Legacy of Meyer v. Nebraska, in LAW AND THE GREAT PLAINS 33-56 (John R. Wunder, ed.) (Greenwood Press, 1996)papers.cfm
Book Review of William G. Ross, Forging New Freedoms: Nativism, Education, and the Constitution, 1917-1927, 45 Journal of Legal Education 291-96 (1995)
A Bad Marriage: Jewish Divorce and the First Amendment, 2 Cardozo Women's Law Journal 131-72 (1995).papers.cfm
‘Hooted Down the Page of History': Reconsidering the Greatness of Chief Justice Taney, 1994 Journal of Supreme Court History 83-102 (1995)
"Free At Last"?, 70 Chicago-Kent Law Review 865-869 (1995)
The Anderson Slave Case and Rights in Canada and England, in LAW SOCIETY, AND THE STATE-ESSAYS IN MODERN LEGAL HISTORY 37-72 (Louis A. Knafla and Susan W. S. Binnie, eds.) (University of Toronto Press, 1995).
HIS SOUL GOES MARCHING ON: RESPONSES TO JOHN BROWN AND THE HARPERS FERRY RAID. Editor and author of two chapters. Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1995
BASEBALL AND THE AMERICAN LEGAL MIND. With Spencer Waller and Neil Cohen. New York: Garland, 1995
Story Telling on the Supreme Court: Prigg v. Pennsylvania and Justice Joseph Story's Judicial Nationalism, 1994 Supreme Court Review 247-94.
‘Let Justice Be Done, Though the Heavens May Fall': The Law of Freedom, 70 Chicago-Kent Law Review 325-68 (1994).papers.cfm
Thomas Jefferson and Antislavery: The Myth Goes On, 102 Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 193-228 (1994)
Zenger's Case: Prototype of a Political Trial, in AMERICAN POLITICAL TRIALS 21-42 (Revised ed., Michal Belknap, ed.) (Greenwood, 1994)papers.cfm
The Treason Trial of Castner Hanway, in AMERICAN POLITICAL TRIALS 77-96 (Revised ed., Michal Belknap, ed.) (Greenwood, 1994)
Not Only the Judges' Robes Were Black: African-American Lawyers as Social Engineers, 47 Stanford Law Review 161-209 (1994). Reprinted in THE HISTORY OF LEGAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: COMMENTARIES AND PRIMARY SOURCES, vol. 1 (Steve Sheppard, ed., Pasadena, California, Salem Press, 1999): 913-952.papers.cfm
Civil Liberties and the Civil War: The Great Emancipator as Civil Libertarian, 91 Michigan Law Review 1353-81 (1993)papers.cfm
The Color of Law, 87 Northwestern University Law Review 937-91 (1993)
The Second Casualty of War: Civil Liberties and the War on Drugs, 66 Southern California Law Review 1389-1452 (1993).papers.cfm
The Crime of Color, 67 Tulane Law Review 2063-2112 (1993)
The Centrality of the Peculiar Institution in American Legal Development, 68 Chicago-Kent Law Review (1993) 1009-33
Sorting Out Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 24 Rutgers Law Journal 605-65 (1993)
The Paradox of Bill of Rights Rhetoric, 1787-1791, in TO SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY: RIGHTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 83-103 (Josephine F. Pacheco, ed.) (George Mason University Press, 1993).papers.cfm
Jefferson and Slavery: Treason Against the Hopes of the World, in JEFFERSONIAN LEGACIES 181-221 (Peter S. Onuf, ed.) (University Press of Virginia, 1993)
The War on German Language and Culture, 1917-1925, in CONFRONTATION AND COOPERATION: GERMANY AND THE UNITED STATES IN THE ERA OF WORLD WAR I, 1900-1914 177-205 (Hans Jürgen Schröder, ed.) (Berg Publishers, 1993)papers.cfm
Fugitive Slaves, Midwestern Racial Tolerance, and the Value of ‘Justice Delayed', 78 Iowa Law Review 89-141 (1992)papers.cfm
State Constitutional Protections of Liberty and the Antebellum New Jersey Supreme Court: Chief Justice Hornblower and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, 23 Rutgers Law Journal 753-87 (1992)papers.cfm
International Extradition and Fugitive Slaves: The John Anderson Case, 18 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 765-810 (1992)papers.cfm
The Ten Amendments as a Declaration of Rights, 16 Southern Illinois University Law Journal 351-96 (1992)papers.cfm
Criminal Law, Family, and Compelling Government Interests, 55 Albany Law Review 689-711 (1992)
Religious Liberty and the Quincentennary: Old World Intolerance, New World Realities, and Modern Implications, 7 St. Johns Journal of Legal Commentary 523 (1992).papers.cfm
‘The Law, and Not Conscience, Constitutes the Rule of Action': The South Bend Fugitive Slave Case and the Value of ‘Justice Delayed', in THE CONSTITUTION, LAW, AND AMERICAN LIFE: CRITICAL ASPECTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY EXPERIENCE 23-51(Donald G. Nieman, ed.) (University of Georgia Press, 1992)papers.cfm
RACE AND LAW IN AMERICAN HISTORY: LEADING ARTICLES. Editor and author of Introductions. 11 vols. (Garland, 1992)
TOWARD A USABLE PAST: LIBERTY UNDER STATE CONSTITUTIONS. Co-Edited with Stephen Gottlieb. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1991
The Latest Front on the War on Drugs: The First Amendment, 2 Drug Law Report 229-36 (1991)
The War on Defense Lawyers, in NEW FRONTIERS IN DRUG POLICY 113-120 (Arnold S. Trebach and Zevin B. Zeese, eds.) (Drug Policy Foundation, 1991)papers.cfm
Rehearsal for Reconstruction: Antebellum Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment, in THE FACTS OF RECONSTRUCTION 1-27 (Eric Anderson and Alfred A. Moss, Jr., eds.) (Louisiana State University Press, 1991)papers.cfm
Race and the Constitution, in BY AND FOR THE PEOPLE: CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 149-162 (Kermit L. Hall, ed.) (Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1991)
The Soul and the State: Religious Freedom in Early New York and the Origin of the First Amendment, in NEW YORK AND THE UNION, 78-105 (Stephen Schechter and Richard B. Bernstein, eds.) (New York State Bicentennial Commission, 1991)
States' Rights, Federalism, and Criminal Extradition in Antebellum America: The New York-Virginia Controversy, 1839-1846, in GERMAN AND AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL THOUGHT: CONTEXTS, INTERACTION, AND HISTORICAL REALITIES (Hermann Wellenreuther, ed.) (Berg, 1990) 293-327; also published in German, in Hermann Wellenreuther und Claudia Schnurmann, eds., DIE AMERIKANISCHE VERFASSUNG UND DEUTSCH-AMERIKANISCHES VERFASSUNGSDENKEN, (Berg, 1991) 334-381 [Trans. by Marie-Luise Frings]
TOWARD A USABLE PAST, (editor, with Paul Finkelman) (University of Georgia Press, 1991)
The Kidnapping of John Davis and the Adoption of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, in 56 Journal of Southern History 397-422 (1990)
Understanding Eighteenth Century Constitutionalism: Recapturing Texts and Context, 18 Reviews in American History 185-89 (1990)
James Madison and the Bill of Rights: A Reluctant Paternity, 1990 Supreme Court Review 301-47 (1990). Reprinted in INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF ESSAYS IN THE HISTORY OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT SERIES: JAMES MADISON (Terence Ball, ed., Ashgate Publishing, 2008): 363-409papers.cfm
AMERICAN SLAVERY: MAJOR HISTORICAL INTERPRETATIONS. Editor and author of introductions. 18 vols. (Garland, 1990). STATE SLAVERY STATUTES. Editor and author of introduction for a bibliography of American state slavery statutes and editor of 354 card microfiche collection of the slavery statutes of the southern states. (University Publications of America, 1989)
The Constitution and the Intentions of the Framers: The Limits of Historical Analysis, 50 University of Pittsburgh Law Review 349-98 (1989)papers.cfm
Northern Labor Law and Southern Slave Law: The Application of the Fellow Servant Rule to Slaves, 11 National Black Law Journal 212-232 (1989)papers.cfm
Evading the Ordinance: The Persistence of Bondage in Indiana and Illinois, 9 Journal of the Early Republic 21-51 (1989)papers.cfm
Prosecutions in Defense of the Cornerstone, 17 Reviews in American History 397-403 (1989)
Slavery and Bondage in the ‘Empire of Liberty', in THE NORTHWEST ORDINANCE: ESSAYS ON ITS FORMULATION, PROVISIONS, AND LEGACY 61-96 (Frederick D. Williams, ed.) (Michigan State University Press, 1989)
States Rights North and South in Antebellum America, in AN UNCERTAIN TRADITION: CONSTITUTIONALISM AND THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH 125-158 (Kermit Hall and James W. Ely, Jr., eds.) (University of Georgia Press, 1989)
Roger Williams and the Separation of Church and State, and The Chicken or the Egg? The Nation & The States," in THE NEW FEDERALIST PAPERS 49-52, 279-82 (J. Jackson Barlow, et al., eds.,) (University Press of America, 1988)
The Northwest Ordinance: A Constitution for an Empire of Liberty, in PATHWAYS TO THE OLD NORTHWEST 1-18 (Lloyd Hunter, ed.) (Indiana Historical Society, 1988)
The Protection of Black Rights in Seward's New York, 34 Civil War History 211-234 (1988)
Slavery at the Philadelphia Convention, 17 This Constitution 25-30 (1988)
The Pennsylvania Delegation and the Peculiar Institution: The Two Faces of the Keystone State, 112 Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 49-72 (1988)papers.cfm
SLAVERY, RACE, AND THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM, 1700-1872. Editor and author of introductions. 16 vols. (Garland, 1988). (Reprint, Lawbook Exchange, 2007)
Slaves as Fellow Servants: Ideology, Law, and Industrialization," 31 American Journal of Legal History 269-305 (1987)
Book Review of John David Smith, An Old Creed For the New South: Proslavery Ideology and Historiography, 1865-1918, 5 Law & History Review 571-73 (1987)
Slavery and the Constitutional Convention: Making a Covenant With Death, in BEYOND CONFEDERATION: ORIGINS OF THE CONSTITUTION AND AMERICAN NATIONAL IDENTITY 188-225 (Richard Beeman, et al., eds.) (University of North Carolina Press, 1987)
Slavery, the 'More Perfect Union,' and the Prairie State, 80 Illinois History Journal 248-269 (1987)
Prelude to the Fourteenth Amendment: Black Legal Rights in the Antebellum North, 17 Rutgers Law Journal 415-82 (1986)
Slavery and the Northwest Ordinance: A Study in Ambiguity, 6 Journal of the Early Republic 343-370 (1986)
THE LAW OF FREEDOM AND BONDAGE: A CASEBOOK. Dobbs Ferry, NY: Oceana Press and NYU School of Law, 1986
SLAVERY IN THE COURTROOM. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1985.
Exploring Southern Legal History, 64 North Carolina Law Review 77-116 (1985)papers.cfm
Book Review of Bradley Chapin, Criminal Justice in Colonial America, 1606-1660, 3 Law & History Review 203-07 (1985)
The Coming of Age of American Legal History, 16 Maryland Historian 1-11 (1985)
Antifederalists: The Loyal Opposition and the American Constitution, 70 Cornell Law Review 182-207 (1984)papers.cfm
Alexander Hamilton, Esq.: Founding Father as Lawyer, 1984 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 229-52 (1984)papers.cfm
The Peculiar Laws of the Peculiar Institution, 10 Reviews in American History 358-63 (1982)
AN IMPERFECT UNION: SLAVERY, FEDERALISM, AND COMITY. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1981. Reprint, Law Book Exchange, 2001
The First American Constitutions: State and Federal, 59 Texas Law Review 1139-73 (1981)
Review Essay of Michael S. Hindus, Prison and Plantation: Crime Justice and Authority in Massachusetts and South Carolina, 1767-1878, 129 University of Pennsylvania Law Review 1485-1515 (1981)
The Law of Slavery and Freedom in California, 17 California Western Law Review 437-64 (1981)
Racial Justice and the Public Schools, 19 History of Education Quarterly 373-380 (1979)
What Did the Dred Scott Case Really Decide? 7 Reviews in American History 368-74 (1979)
Prigg v. Pennsylvania and Northern State Courts: Anti-Slavery Use of a Pro-Slavery Decision, 25 Civil War History 5-35 (1979)
The Nationalization of Slavery: A Counterfactual Approach to the 1860s, 14 Louisiana Studies 213-240 (1975)papers.cfm
Class and Culture in Late Nineteenth Century Chicago: The Founding of the Newberry Library, 16 American Studies, 5-22 (1975)papers.cfm

Forthcoming Publications

Selected Achievements

Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law, visited the St. Bonaventure University campus to discuss how Abraham Lincoln came to issue the Emancipation Proclamation on Jan. 29, 2014. His talk was titled “How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation, and Spielberg’s Movie.”
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law, spoke at the annual Childress Symposium at St. Louis University on Nov. 1, 2013.

He also spoke at a roundtable discussion in honor of William E. Nelson of NYU Law School on Nov. 7, 2013. The session was held the annual meeting of the American Society for Legal History.

He delivered the Biever Guest Lecture on "How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln and the Constitutional Limitations on Emancipation" at Loyola University, New Orleans School of Law on Nov. 12, 2013. While there, Professor Finkelman also gave a faculty workshop on Frederick Douglass's Constitution.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law, presented a paper entitled "John A. Bingham of Ohio and the Historical Context of the Fourteenth Amendment" at the Third Biennial "UnCivil Wars" Conference in Athens, Ga., on Oct. 25, 2013.

Professor Paul Finkelman discussed "How Hollywood Handles History" at a panel discussion of the film Lincoln at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., on Oct. 10, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman gave the keynote address on Sept. 26, 2013, at the conference “1619 - The Making of America: When Did We Become Americans?” organized by Norfolk State University and Hampton University to commemorate the arrival of the first Africans in British North American. The title of his lecture was “From Freedom to Slavery: How British Colonists Remade the English Common Law to Create Slavery in Early America.”

Professor Paul Finkelman gave a lecture on Sept. 24, 2013, on “The Ten Commandments on the Courthouse Lawn: Why People of Faith Should Oppose Religious Monuments on Public Space” at St. Bonaventure University. Professor Finkelman gave the lecture while serving as the Lenna Visiting Professor.

On Sept. 11, he gave two talks at Touro Law Center, one on "Frederick Douglass's Constitution" and the other was on "Ten Commandments Monuments in Public Space" as well as the issue of religious divorce in civil law.

On Sept. 9, Professor Finkelman presented "Slavery and the American Founders: Coming to Terms with a Not So Pretty Past" at the Fort Orange Club in Albany.

Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, presented the CLE program "Baseball and the Rule of Law: How Our Two National Sports Intersect" for the New York State Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section at Citi Field on Aug. 24, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, was the commentator at a session on Race, Politics, and the Law at the annual meeting of the Society for Historians of the Early Republic meeting in St. Louis.

He gave the morning keynote address "Does Lincoln Deserve the Moniker of the Great Emancipator?" at the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Conference of Trial Judges on July 26, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, delivered the talk "Is the Ten Commandments the Moral Foundation of American Law: The Bill of Rights, Separation of Church and State, and the Posting of the Ten Commandments in Public Places" for the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York and the Congregation Anshe Emeth's Sisterhood in Hudson, N.Y., on July 14, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law, has been reappointed as a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians for a three-year term starting 2013/2014.

He spoke on "Abraham Lincoln's Legacy as the Great Emancipator" at the Appellate Courts Conference of Pennsylvania on June 11, 2013.

Professor Finkelman chaired and commented on the session "African Americans on the Courthouse Steps: Rethinking 'Agency' in the Slave South" for the Law and Society Association on June 1, 2013, and he also served as chair and speaker at the "Roundtable Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation."
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law, delivered the talk "How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator" at the "James Oliver Horton Symposium on Abraham Lincoln" in Hawaii on May 25 and 26, 2013.

On May 18, 2013, Professor Finkelman gave a lecture on Baseball and the Rule of Law to the regional meeting of the American College of Trial Lawyers and then participated on a panel on doping along with Rusty Hardin, the attorney who represented Roger Clemens; and Richard Pound, a member of the International Olympic Committee and the former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Professor Finkelman also gave a plenary talk on "Baseball and the Rule of Law" at the 2013 Federal Bench and Bar Conference for the Eastern District of Kentucky on May 14, 2013.

On May 9, 2013, Professor Finkelman co-taught, with Judge Louis H. Schiff, a day-long CLE for Florida judges on "Court - A Lot More Like Baseball Than You Thought: Rules, Fairness and Calling the Close Ones" at the Florida College of Advanced Judicial Studies, sponsored by the Florida Supreme Court.

He participated in a panel on "Lincoln, Lieber, and the Law of War from 1863 to 9/11" for The Lincoln Group of D.C. at the U.S. District Court House in Washington, D.C., on May 4, 2013.

He gave a presentation at the conference "Congress, the Home Front and the Civil War" on May 3, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law, delivered The Simon Finkelman Memorial Lecture, "Are the 10 Commandments the Moral Foundation of American Law? Why Jews Should be Concerned about Public Displays of the Decalogue" in Rochester, N.Y., on April 20, 2013.

Professor Finkelman also participated in a panel on "The Origins and Process of Emancipation" at the symposium "Emancipation at 150" held at Boston College's Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy on April 23, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, delivered a talk on Frederick Douglass's Constitution at the Stanford Constitutional Law Center on March 12, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, delivered the spring John Marshall Harlan Lecture, titled "'But I Need Kentucky': Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Bluegrass State," as part of a week-long residency program at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky., from March 3 to 9, 2013.

Professor Finkelman also gave a lecture at the University of Kentucky Law School co-sponsored by the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society titled "Are the Ten Commandments the Moral Foundation of American Law?"
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, delivered the presentation "How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator" at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego on Feb. 14, 2013.

Professor Finkelman also delivered a talk on "The Emancipation Proclamation 150 Years Later" at the LSU Law Center in Baton Rouge, La., on Feb. 21, 2013.

In honor of Black History Month, Professor Finkelman delivered the presentation "Abraham Lincoln and the End of Slavery: How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator" at the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse on Feb. 26, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, presented a paper on Frederick Douglass's Constitution to the University of Richmond Law Faculty Colloquium on Feb. 1, 2013.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, was on a panel for the International Human Rights Section of the AALS on Jan. 6, 2013. The session was on Human Rights in Times of Conflict: New Voices in Human Rights. He spoke on the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and more generally on the role of history in understanding human rights in war time.

He delivered on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013, a lecture entitled “The Ten Commandments on the Courthouse Lawn and Elsehwere,” at Florida Atlantic University. His lecture was sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program, the History Department, and the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.

Professor Finkelman also delivered the presentation "How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator" at Hudson Valley Community College on Jan. 29, 2013.

He gave a talk on Jan. 31, 2013, on proslavery religion sponsored by the departments of religion and history at the University of Richmond.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, gave a public lecture titled "Is the Supreme Court a Friend of the Jews" at the College of Jewish Studies in Binghamton, N.Y., on Dec. 6. The College of Jewish Studies is a coalition between the Judaic Studies Department at Binghamton University and various local institutions, including the Jewish Federation of Binghamton and the Jewish Community Center.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, delivered a presentation titled "Was Abraham Lincoln the Great Emancipator" at The University of North Carolina at Greemsboro on Nov. 29, 2012.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Professor of Law and Public Policy, gave a talk at "Lincoln and the Dakota War of 1862 - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" for The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia and The U.S. Capitol History Society on Nov. 15, 2012.
Professor Paul Finkelman delivered the talk, "How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator: Abraham Lincoln and the Problem of Ending Slavery," on Nov. 14,, 2012, at Duke Law School's Robert R. Wilson Lecture.
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Professor of Law and Public Policy, delivered a talk for the Wepner Symposium on the Lincoln Legacy and Contemporary Scholarship at the University of Illinois Springfield on Oct. 19.

Also on Oct. 19, presented on the topic "Freedom Suits, the Dred Scott Decision, and How the 19th century Case Remains Relevant to Contemporary Constitutional Issues" for the Missouri Bar.

On Oct. 12, Professor Finkelman delivered the keynote presentation on "Sometimes War is the Only Answer: Mr. Madison's Message in 1812" at the symposium "War Hawks: The United States and the War of 1812" in Milan.

On Oct. 4, he delivered "Frederick Douglass' Constitution" at Indiana University's symposium titled "Rediscovering the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass."
Professor Paul Finkelman, President William McKinley Professor of Law and Public Policy, participated in a panel for "The Life and Legal Thought of Derrick Bell Symposium" at Western New England School of Law on Sept. 28.

Professor Finkelman delivered the featured lecture "The District's First Political Trial: The Oberlin Fugitive Slave Case" for "Justice and Legal Change on the Shores of Lake Erie: A History of the Northern District of Ohio" at the University of Akron School of Law on Sept. 27.

On September 21, he presented "Was Lincoln the Great Emancipator? Reflections on the 150th Anniversary of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, at the Manoa Campus at the University of Hawaii.

He also delivered the talk “Ending Slavery under a Pro-slavery Constitution: Was the Emancipation Proclamation Constitutional?” at the University of Hawaii at Hilo on Sept. 19 to commemorate Constitution Day and the 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

He spoke about emancipation at the event "Lincoln, War, and the Constitution" for The Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia on Sept. 15, and he discussed "Civil Rights and the Constitution before the Civil War" as part of the Rockford Public Schools Freedom Project on Sept. 8, as well as "Leading Change from the Political Arena to the Sports Arena" for the Chicago Federal Leadership Program on Sept. 6.
Professor Paul Finkelman delivered a talk on Baseball and the Rule of Law to the NYSBA Trial Lawyers Section on July 30, 2012.
Professor Paul Finkelman authored the piece "Lessons from US baseball for China's troubled football" for the Shanghai Daily on July 24, 2012.
Professor Paul Finkelman delivered a series of lectures in China over two weeks in July, spanning such topics as U.S. constitutional law, the Bill of Rights, human rights, and corruption in sports. He spoke at the Peking University Law School and the Chinese University of Politics and Law, among other locations.
Professor Paul Finkelman gave a presentation titled The Fugitive Slave Act & Secession at the NY Court of Appeals on June 7, 2012 as part of the symposium, The Civil War on Trial, at Albany Law School in Albany, NY.

The three-day program will feature some of the foremost Civil War and Consitutional scholars in the nation on the subjects of the Civil War and the law.

Click here for the flyer.

Click here for more information.
Professor Finkelman delivered a presentation on Dred Scott and the Southern Argument for Slavery on May 31, 2012 at The Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, MO.
On May 17, Professor Finkelman gave the Keynote Address titled "Lincoln and Emancipation" at the 2012 Joint Judges and Senior Managers Spring Conference in Washington, DC.
Professor Finkelman was the Conference Director for the May 3-5 U.S. Capitol Historical Society conference titled "Creating an Army to Preserve the Nation" in Washington, DC.
Professor Finkelman chaired "New Perspectives on the Nineteenth CenturySlave Trade" at the 2012 OAH Annual Meeting in Milwaukee, WI on April 20.
On April 13, 2012 Professor Finkelman was the moderator of "Exploring the Role of Expert" at the Conable Conference in International Studies at RIT College of Liberal Arts in Rochester, NY.
Professor Finkelman delivered the presentation "Is The Supreme Court a Friend of the Jews?" at Temple Concord in Syracuse, NY on April 3, 2012.
Professor Finkelman gave the 2012 John Jay Lecture, "Jay is for Justice: From Slaveholders to Abolitionists, the Jay Family and Racial Justice", on March 25 at the Jay Heritage Center in Rye, NY.

Professor Finkelman received the "John Jay Medal" from Pace Law School after giving the John Jay Lecture. Past recipients include Justice Harry Blackmun and the great Columbia University historian Richard B. Morris.

Click here for more information.

Professor Finkelman was the Keynote Presenter at the Alberta Institute for American Studies on March 15th for a lecture on the U.S. Civil War. One hundred and fifty years ago today the United States was in the midst of its great Civil War. Over the course of four years about 630,000 Americans would die. What caused this conflict and this giant blood bath? Was it competition between an industrial North and an agrarian South? What it the result of foolish miscalculations and blundering leaders? Did the South secede to protect its "states' rights" from an aggressive national government? Or did the South leave the Union to protect and expand slavery? Did the North fight to preserve national unity, or to end slavery, or for some other reason? This lecture explores all these potential explanations for the most bloody war in U.S. history.
Professor Finkelman gave a keynote address titled "What Really Caused the Civil War" at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada on March 15, 2012.
Professor Finkelman appeared on the PBS Special "Lost in History: Alexander Clark", a leader of the civil rights movement that has been forgotten.
Click here to watch the video.
On February 1, 2012 Professor Finkelman discussed "Lessons from Professional Baseball: How Business Laws Strengthen Corporate Governance" at the Aichi International Plaza in Nagoya, Japan. Dr. Finkelman cited various examples from the sport's history in the United States, highlighting the unique character of the game, and he outlined stark differences in teams based on cultural and economic characteristics among host cities.
Click here for the full story.
In the weeks between December 26, 2011 and February 13, 2012, Professor Finkelman gave a series of presentations in Japan for the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship:
Nagoya City University, Current Issues in U.S. Immigration

Nanzan University (Nagoya), Talks on Immigration and the 2012 Election; Japanese Immigration to the United States; Plea Bargaining; Peer Review in American Universities; and Defining Slavery under the U.S. Constitution

Doshisha University (Kyoto), Seminar in American Constitutional Law on the Brown Decision

Kanazawa University, An Overview of U.S. Constitutional Law

University of Tokyo, Slavery in World History and in the Modern World
Professor Finkelman submitted an amicus brief in the case Cantrell v. The Regents of the University of Michigan. The case involves race based admissions policies for Michigan public universities known as Proposal 2.
Click here to read the brief.
On Novemeber 17, 2011 Professor Finkelman gave the Gratz CLE Series Shusterman Distinguished Scholar Lecture titled "Is the Supreme Court a Friend of the Jews? The High Court and the Rights of Religious Minorities" at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia in Melrose Park, PA.
Professor Finkelman presented "Hardly an Aberration: Taney, Dred Scott, and Slavery" as part of the session titled "New Histories of the Taney Court" at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Legal Historians in Atlanta, GA on November 12.
Professor Finkelman presented "The Ten Commandments on the Courthouse Lawn" at Georgia State University on November 10, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation at Freeman, Mathis & Gary LLP in Atlanta, GA on November 9, 2001.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation at the Carter Center Museum in Atlanta, GA on November 9, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation titled "Defining Slavery Under a Government Instituted for Protection of the Rights of Mankind" at the University of Hull in the UK on November 1, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation titled "Constitutional Slavery" at the University of Edinburgh Center for Legal History in the UK on October 28, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation titled "Democracy and Slavery: The Great Contradiction of the American Constitution" at the Queen's University of Belfast in the UK on October 27, 2011.
On October 25, 2011 Professor Finkelman presented "Lincoln and Emancipation: How a Railroad Lawyer Freed the Slaves" at the American History Colloquium at the Queen's University of Belfast in the UK.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation at Smith College in Northampton, MA on October 18, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation titled "Who, What and Why: Immigrant Issues in the News" on October 6, 2012 at St. John Fisher's Basil Auditorium. The lecture was organized by Wayne Action for Racial Equality and Migrant Support Services, in conjunction with other organizations working to support farm workers in upstate New York in the face of what they perceive as unjust federal farm labor policies for immigrants.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation titled "Sustaining Immigrant's Human Rights in the 21st Century" at Monroe Community College on October 6, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation at Smith College in Northampton, MA on October 18, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation at Youngstown University's Law Day on September 30, 2011.
Professor Finkleman gave the presentation "Going to War to Save the Union or to End Slavery? Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War" at The American Civil War Revisited, a Public Affairs Program of the Embassy of the United States in Leipzig, Germany on September 19, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave the presentation "The Alexander G. Clark Legacy: Iowa, Rcase, and the Law" on September 16, 2011 at Muscatine Community College.
Professor Finkelman presented "How the American Civil War Changed the Nature of World Slavery" at the International Conference titled "The Transitional Significance of the American Civil War: A Global History" at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany on September 16, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented "Understanding the Meaning of Slavery Before the Thirteenth Amendment" at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, MO on September 7, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented "The Legal Evolution of Slavery in the British Colonies" at the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice in Cambridge, MA on August 27, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented "Civil Rights in Iowa: From Emancipated Slaves to Integrated Schools to Marriage Equality" at the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa in Des Moines, IA on August 19, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented at the Northshore Education Consortium Teaching American History symposium "A More Perfect Union: The Origins and Development of the U.S. Constitution" on July 20 and July 21, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented "The Constitution, Slavery and Indiana" at the Pendleton Public Library in Pendleton, IN on July 13, 2011.
On June 25, 2001 Professor Finkelman treated members of Temple Israel in New Rochelle, NY to a brief lesson on how the rights of others have been used as political tools throughout history.
"It's about civil rights, stupid," exclaimed Finkelman rewording then Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton's campaign slogan adding, "It's not about sex or marriage or law. It is about civil rights and the rights of people to show affection for whoever they want to."

Read more here.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation and signed copies of his book "Millard Fillmore" at the Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society on June 23, 2011.
Professor Finkelman was the Session Chair for "Law and the American Revolution" at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Annual Conference at SUNY New Paltz on June 6, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented "Explaining Phillps's Consitutionalism and Disunionist Views" at the Wendell Phillips Bicentennial Commemoration in Cambridge, MA on June 3, 2011.
Professor Finkelman participated in a WAMC Roundtable on the topic of Millard Fillmore on June 1, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented "Two American Presidents in the 19th Century: Millard Fillmore and Abraham Lincoln Confront the Jewish Question" at the College of Jewish Studies Spring Lecture Series in Vestal, NY on May 26, 2011.
Professor Finkelman gave a presentation on Slavery and the Constitution as part of the Teaching American History Program at Edmonds School District in WA on May 21, 2011.
Professor Finkelman presented a CLE titled "Dred Scott: A Brief History of Documents" at the 2011 Joint Judges and senior Managers Spring Conference at The District of Columbia Superior court in Washington, DC on May 20, 2011.
On Monday, Dec 27th, 2010 @ 5pm on 88.3FM, Professor Finkelman was featured on the Capitol Pressroom. The interview can be heard here as a podcast.

In the News

Paul Finkelman

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