• Professor, School of Law
• Professor, History

David Konig

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• Ph.D. at Harvard University
• M.A. at Harvard University
• B.A. at New York University

News Stories & Tip Sheets:

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Dred Scott 150th anniversary National symposium gathers leading experts to discuss the legacy of the landmark Supreme Court decision March 1-3 Feb. 15, 2007 -- Terrell Creative To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision, Washington University will host a national symposium on "The Dred Scott Case and its Legacy: Race, Law, and the Struggle for Equality," on March 1-3. The symposium, which is free and open to the public, will begin with a keynote address by the Honorable Michael A. Wolff, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri, at 4 p.m. on March 1 in Graham Chapel. Wolff will discuss "Race, Law, and the Struggle for Equality: Missouri Law, Politics, and the Dred Scott Case." Panel discussions on Friday and Saturday in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall will examine the case and its legacy, from the Civil War to the present.

Dred Scott 150 years later Landmark case isn't a ghost; stereotypes of inferiority are still felt in the courts Feb. 12, 2007 -- Terrell Creative March 2007 marks the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court's momentous Dred Scott decision that denied full American citizenship to African-Americans and gave legal sanction to a racial hierarchy that would undermine the most basic principles of American justice. Experts say the anniversary should be an opportunity for deep national reflection on enduring issues of race and justice. In honor of this landmark case, Washington University in St. Louis will host a conference, titled "The Dred Scott Case and Its Legacy: Race, Law, and the Struggle for Equality," from March 1-3.

Historian Benedict at Assembly Series Michael Les Benedict will present "The People Themselves: The Constitutional Responsiblity of the American People" on February 11 Feb. 2, 2004 -- Michael Les Benedict, a professor of history at the Moritz School of Law at Ohio State University, is an authority on Anglo-American constitutional and legal history, the history of civil rights and liberties, and the federal system. Benedict will present "The People Themselves: The Constitutional Responsibility of the American People" at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, February 11 in Graham Chapel.

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Clips:

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St. Louis hosts events to mark anniversary of Dred Scott ruling Associated Press State & Local Wire and 8 others March 1, 2007 -- On March 6, 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court denied slave Dred Scott his freedom, a decision that helped push a nation inflamed over slavery closer to Civil War. Throughout St. Louis, events are being held to mark the 150th anniversary of the ruling in the court case that began in this city, and to foster new discussions about race and equality in America. WUSTL history and law professor David Konig comments on the legacy of the decision. WUSTL is holding a national symposium March 1-3. It aims to provide insights into American history, culture and the struggle for equality.

Experience:

Assistant professor to professor, Washington University 1973- ; Chair, History Department, 1987-1993 / Fulbright lecturer, Universities of Rome and Perugia 1981-82 / Senior research fellow, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 1985-87 / Founder-Director, Program in Legal Studies, 1994- / Visiting Professor of Law, St. Louis University, 1999- / Professor of Law, Washington University, 2002-

Kemper Fund Grant for the Improvement of Undergraduate Teaching / American Bar Association Fund for Justice and Education Grant

Select Books

* Editor, The Legal Records of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, 1686-1859: The Records of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, 16 vols., Michael Glazier, 1978-81

* Law and Society in Puritan Massachusetts: Essex County, 1629-1692, North Carolina, 1979

* Editor and co-author, Devising Liberty: Creating and Preserving Freedom in the New American Republic, Stanford, 1995

Select Journal Articles

* "Community Custom and the Common Law: Social Change and the Development of Land Law in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts," American Journal of Legal History, April 1974

* "A New Look at the Essex 'French,'" Essex Institute Historical Collections, July 1974

* "English Legal Change and the Origins of Local Government in Northern Massachusetts," in Town and County: Essays in the Structure of Local Government in the American Colonies, ed. B. Daniels, Wesleyan, 1978

* "'Dale's Laws' and the Non-Common Law Origins of Justice in Virginia," American Journal of Legal History, October 1982

* "The Theory and Practice of Constitutionalism in Prerevolutionary Massachusetts: James Otis on Writs of Assistance, 1767," Dalhousie Law Journal, June 1984

* "Country Justice: The Rural Roots of Constitutionalism in Colonial Virginia," in An Uncertain Tradition: Constitutionalism and the History of the South, eds. K. Hall et al., Georgia, 1988

* "Natural Rights, Bills of Rights, and the People's Rights in Virginia Constitutional Discourse, 1787-1791," in The South's Role in the Creation of the Bill of Rights, ed. R. Hawes, Mississippi, 1991

* "Colonization and the Common Law in Ireland and Virginia, 1569-1634," in The Transformation of Early American History: Society, Authority, and Ideology, eds. J. Henretta et al., Knopf, 1991

* Contributor, Encyclopedia of Historic U.S. Court Cases, 1690-1990, Garland, 1992

* "The Virgin and the Virgin's Sister: The Competing Legal Legacies of Colonial Virginia and Massachusetts," in The History of The Law in Massachusetts: The Supreme Judicial Court, 1692-1992, Supreme Judicial Court Historical Society, 1992

* "A Summary View of the Law of British America," William and Mary Quarterly, January 1993

* "Contingency and Constitutionalism in Colonial New York," Law and History Review, Summer 1998

* "Legal Fictions and the Rule(s) of Law: The Jeffersonian Critique of Common Law Adjudication," in The Many Legalities of Early America, eds. Bruce H. Mann and Christopher L. Tomlins, North Carolina, 2001

* "Constitutional Contexts: The Theory of History and the Concept of Constitutional Origins in Revolutionary America," in Constitutionalism and American Culture, ed. Sandra F. VanBurkleo, Kansas, 2001

Currently in Progress

* The Course of the Law in Virginia: Politics, Law and Power in Tidewater Society, 1585-1705 / (ed.) The Legal Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson / Nature's Advocate: The Legal Mind of Thomas Jefferson