Westward Expansion and the Constitution in the Early American Republic

FAIN: EH-50390-13

University of Oklahoma, Norman (Norman, OK 73019-3003)
Kevin Butterfield (Project Director: March 2013 to March 2015)

A two-week summer institute for twenty-five college and university teachers to explore the topic of American westward expansion in the Early Republic through the lens of the U.S. Constitution.

Expansion and the Constitution in the Early Republic is a proposed two-week Summer Institute for College and University Teachers, to be held at the University of Oklahoma in June 2014. We anticipate applications from teachers at four-year and community colleges as well as graduate students. The proposed Institute will bring current and future college faculty into conversation with some of the leading academic researchers of the early republic on the history of the American West, race, and Indian removal. The participants will explore the social, cultural, and political dimensions of American westward expansion through the lens of the U.S. Constitution and the struggles over its interpretation between the American Revolution and the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848.