• 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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Won't 'interfere' with states' issue Gun owners, sellers needn't worry with Obama as president, says Second Amendment expert Jan. 5, 2009 -- An expert on the Second Amendment says that gun owners and sellers should not be sweating bullets over Barack Obama's election as president. Despite Obama's record on gun control, David T. Konig, Ph.D., a professor of history in Arts & Sciences and a professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that the right of the people to keep and bear arms will not be an issue that Obama will address as president early in his term — if at all.

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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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.

Current projects involve a book on the establishment of the principle and practice of "due process" and the rule of law in colonial Virginia, an edition of Thomas Jefferson's common law notebook for The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, and articles on freedom and slavery in the courtroom.

Publications

(ed.)The Plymouth Court Records, 1686-1859: The Records of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and the Court of General Sessions of the Peace. 16 vols. (Wilmington, 1974-81)

Law and Society in Puritan Massachusetts. Essex County, 1626-1693 (Chapel Hill, 1979)

"'Dale's Laws' and the Non-Common Law Origins of Criminal Justice in Virginia," American Journal of Legal History, XXVI (1982)

"Colonization and the Common Law in Ireland and Virginia, 1569-1634," in The Transformation of Early American History, ed. James Henretta, Michael Kammen, and Stanley Katz (New York, 1991).

"The Virgin and the Virgin's Sister: The Competing Legal Legacies of Colonial Virginia and Massachusetts," in The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1692-1992, ed. Russell K. Osgood (Boston, 1992)

"A Summary View of the Law of British America," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., L (1993)

(ed. and co-auth.) Devising Liberty: Creating and Preserving Freedom in the New American Republic (Stanford, 1995)

"Contingency and Constitutionalism in Colonial New York," Law and History Review, XVI (1998)

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

"Constitutional Contexts: The Theory of History and the Concept of Constitutional Origins in Revolutionary America, " in Sandra F. VanBurkleo, et al., eds., Constitutionalism and American Life. Writing the New Constitutional History (Lawrence, 2002).

"Thomas Jefferson's Scientific Project and the American West" in Lewis and Clark: Journey to Another America, ed. Alan Taylor (St. Louis, 2003)

"The Second Amendment: A Missing Transatlantic Context for the Historical Meaning of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms'," Law and History Review, 22 (2004)

"Influence and Emulation in the Constitutional Republic of Letters," Law and History Review, 22 (2004)

"The Persistence of Resistance: Civic Rights, Natural Rights, and Property Rights in the Historical Debate Over the "right of the people to keep and bear arms,'" Fordham Law Review, 53 (2004)

"Virginia and the Imperial State: Law, Enlightenment, and the 'Crooked Cord of Discretion," in The British and Their Laws in the Eighteenth Century, ed. David Lemmings (Woodbridge, 2005)

"St. George Tucker and the Limits of States' Rights Constitutionalism: Understanding the Federal Compact in the Early Republic," William and Mary Law Review, XLVII (2006)

Experience

Assistant Professor to Professor of History, Washington University 1973-

Chair, History Department, 1987-1993

Fulbright Senior Lecturer, Universities of Rome and Perugia, 1981-82

Senior Research Fellow, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 1985-87

Founder-Director, Program in Legal Studies, 1994-

Professor of Law, Washington University, 2002-

Visiting Professor of Law, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, 2004 Editorial Board, New York University Press Series in Legal History

Board of Directors, American Society for Legal History

Editorial Board, Law and History Review

Chair, Prize Committee for Best Work in American Legal History by a Junior Scholar, William Nelson Cromwell Foundation

Chair, Prize Committee for Best Book, Society for Historians of the Early American Republic

Education

New York University BA 1968 / Harvard University MA 1969, PhD 1973