This book explores the treason trial of President Jefferson Davis, where the question of secession's constitutionality was debated.

A critical catalogue of how lawyers use history - as authority, as evocation of lost golden ages, as a nightmare to escape and as progress towards enlightenment.

Explains the origins of the Fourteenth Amendment's birthright citizenship provision, as a story of black Americans' pre-Civil War claims to belonging.

Tells the story of a sensational 1791 Virginia murder case, and explores Revolutionary America's debates over justice, criminal punishment, and equality before the law.

Tells the tragic story of Puerto Ricans who sought the post-Civil War regime of citizenship, rights, and statehood but instead received racist imperial governance.