Join the New York City Bar Association and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History for a special panel in connection with Noah Feldman’s book The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America.
May 17, 2023: The Broken Constitution: Lincoln, Slavery, and the Refounding of America
The Broken Constitution is the first book to tell the story of how Abraham Lincoln broke the Constitution in order to remake it. It offers a riveting narrative of his constitutional choices and how he made them—and places Lincoln amid the thinking of African American abolitionists, Lincoln’s Republican rivals, and secessionist ideologues. This program will consider the question, “Did President Lincoln ignore the law and breach the Constitution to save the Union?” and will feature
Noah Feldman, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and Chairman of the Society of Fellows, Harvard University
Hon. Raymond J. Lohier, Jr., Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Cynthia L. Nicoletti, Professor in the Department of History and Professor of Law, University of Virginia
John Fabian Witt, Allen H. Duffy Class of 1960 Professor of Law, Yale Law School
This program is jointly sponsored by the NYCBA and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and is open to the public. History educators and their students are particularly encouraged to attend. The program will begin with a reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by a panel discussion from 6:00 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. Please note the dress code for the program is business casual.
The Legal History Committee of the Association strongly recommends that secondary school educators encourage students to attend only if they have already read Professor Feldman’s book or have taken (or are taking) a course in American history involving study of the institution of slavery and the American Civil War. As an introduction to the book, students and teachers can view Professor Feldman discussing Lincoln’s Broken Constitution in our Book Breaks Archive.
The New York City Bar Association and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History are grateful to Offit Kurman, P.A., for its generous financial support for this program.