Maggie Blackhawk

Concur in full. I had the opportunity to do a similar program with Maggie and Ned, and it was an incredible experience. I'd recommend it especially to people who are looking for ways to better incorporate Native peoples and histories into their teaching and research.

Opinion | How to Save the American Experiment

Political violence, post-pandemic one-party rule, vast economic inequality, and immigration backlash? The 2020s are the 1920s all over again--and that may show us a way out. Adapted from my book, to be published next week. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/o...

Anyone would be very lucky to have Nathaniel Donahue in their workshops! His project on corvee labor and U.S. state building is fascinating, and worth a read even in these trying times.

Thanks so much, Mary! Deadline 10/10 to apply for the free seminar for junior faculty and grad students on Native peoples and the Constitution.

I'm excited about our upcoming Rothbaum Lectures given by Maggie Blackhawk! Lectures are free and open to the public.

New Ken Burns!!!! New Ken Burns!!!!!

YouTube video by PBS The American Revolution | Official Trailer | PBS

ca. 250 years go we began a domestic war to define what North America would become. Ken Burns on the Revolution that is still ongoing. Honored (and still pretty surprised) to have contributed. m.youtube.com/watch?v=lruE...

Only an administration intent on committing war crimes in the present and future would stoop to calling Wounded Knee a "battle" rather than what it truly was: a massacre of over 250 Lakotas, mainly women, children, and the elderly. 1/

I understand there are bigger problems, especially for the academy. But I miss the days when “difficult” meant that a speaker mustered immense evidence to shift entrenched paradigms—and not “difficult” meaning conflict with partisan priors. Difficult meant that 800 pages later minds were blown open.

What-does-God-want-with-a-starship voice:

"What does 'from' mean?"

The image shows the name of the workshop and the logos of the sponsors.

Calling all middle and high school teachers!

Drawing inspiration from Ken Burns’ upcoming documentary, The American Revolution, join us for a full day of free, in-person professional development on Friday, October 17th at the JCB.

Registration required! forms.gle/CT83ESjTZWeg...

Erie’s Future and General Common Law Revivalism | University of Chicago Law School

It's been almost 90 years since the Supreme Court in Erie v. Tompkins disallowed federal court application of general common law. There has, however, been a revival of interest in the general common law, something we'll be discussing this spring at UChicago!
www.law.uchicago.edu/events/eries...

"The United States is more than white men moving westward.
It is more than conquest. The US is constituted by and is a product of its borderlands. In fact, it is more borderlands—and borderlands peoples—than center."

harvardlawreview.org/wp-content/u...

Turner, once again, meet Bolton.

YouTube video by Philosophy Tube Jefferson & the Indians: The Complex Truth

The new episode of Philosophy Tube is about the founding of the USA, settler colonialism, and how Thomas Jefferson made excuses for it.

(You may notice some parallels to current events)

youtu.be/dBjQBa23cOw?...

Complications and Clarity in Birthright Citizenship The conventional wisdom is right.

blog.dividedargument.com/p/complicati...

Opinion | Concentration camps are not just part of our past, but our present and future From David M. Perry: From Minnesota’s Fort Snelling to Japanese internment camps to Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, these camps have become an American tradition.

“Someday, I hope, we’re going to have a reckoning over the horrors of this moment, but I don’t think we can do it without a clearer understanding of how this fits into U.S. history. There’s a tendency to say, “This isn’t who we are,” and I get the impulse, but history is never that simple.”

"The most important aspect of recognizing this history is not so those of us descended from settlers...feel shame, but rather “to recognize that these tactics, [a division into] savage vs. civilized, continues to inhabit our society."

This article asks for email, but not money. Worth the read.

"This is part of the reality of Black life in this country: We must make a record of those forces that seek to erase us and erase our histories so that future generations know we did not simply accept it."

Perhaps the administration's view of Article II is "novel" in certain respects. But the similarities to the legal and administrative strategies of American colonialism are striking. Erasure also obscures the lessons of these histories for how to limit and resist imperial executive power. 2/2

With respect, calling the contemporary moment the "imperial presidency" while also claiming that it is "historically novel" could obscure the real history of executive power in the the US territories, Indian Country, and all of our colonies. There is much here to learn from. /1

Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the US Constitution Fall 2025 Session Presented in person at The New York Historical and via Zoom* Meeting Dates & Times: Fridays, November 7 and 21, December 5 and 12, 2025 | 11 am–2 pm ET Instructors: Maggie Blackhawk, Ned Blackhawk SEMINAR DESCRIPTION: As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this seminar invites a critical examination of a central paradox in American constitutional history: how can a nation celebrate a founding document and constitutional tradition built, in part, on the dispossession of Indigenous homelands? From the Founders’ long-standing relationships with Native nations to the grievances lodged regarding ‘merciless Indian savages’ into the Declaration, Indian affairs and westward expansion were foundational to the creation and evolution of the US Constitution. The Northwest Ordinance laid the “blueprint for empire” for federal imperial expansion from thirteen states clinging to the Eastern seaboard to a nation that stretched “from sea to shining sea,” while the United States Constitution excluded “Indians not taxed” from American polity—in so doing, also codifying the specific subordination of a people by name within constitutional text. Despite this deep entanglement, Native history remains marginalized within the fields of constitutional history and mainstream constitutional scholarship. This seminar explores emerging historical and legal literature that re-centers Native peoples and American colonialism in the narrative of US constitutional development. Topics include the role of Native peoples and “Indian affairs” in the Constitution’s initial drafting and ratification and the legal architecture of colonial expansion. The seminar will also explore how centering Native peoples allows for a rethinking of United States constitutional history and American public law more broadly.

Junior faculty and grad students in political science, history, law, and Native American Studies, come take a class with us at the New York Historical Society (and via Zoom) on Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the U.S. Constitution.

To apply, Institute for Constitutional History: 1/2

Current Programs | The New York Historical The fall 2025 season: Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the US Constitution

More information: www.nyhistory.org/education/in...

Space is limited. To apply, please submit the following material to ich@nyhistory.org by October 10, 2025:

Your C.V.
A short statement of interest

For further information, please email Andrew Fletcher at ich@nyhistory.org.

Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the US Constitution Fall 2025 Session Presented in person at The New York Historical and via Zoom* Meeting Dates & Times: Fridays, November 7 and 21, December 5 and 12, 2025 | 11 am–2 pm ET Instructors: Maggie Blackhawk, Ned Blackhawk SEMINAR DESCRIPTION: As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this seminar invites a critical examination of a central paradox in American constitutional history: how can a nation celebrate a founding document and constitutional tradition built, in part, on the dispossession of Indigenous homelands? From the Founders’ long-standing relationships with Native nations to the grievances lodged regarding ‘merciless Indian savages’ into the Declaration, Indian affairs and westward expansion were foundational to the creation and evolution of the US Constitution. The Northwest Ordinance laid the “blueprint for empire” for federal imperial expansion from thirteen states clinging to the Eastern seaboard to a nation that stretched “from sea to shining sea,” while the United States Constitution excluded “Indians not taxed” from American polity—in so doing, also codifying the specific subordination of a people by name within constitutional text. Despite this deep entanglement, Native history remains marginalized within the fields of constitutional history and mainstream constitutional scholarship. This seminar explores emerging historical and legal literature that re-centers Native peoples and American colonialism in the narrative of US constitutional development. Topics include the role of Native peoples and “Indian affairs” in the Constitution’s initial drafting and ratification and the legal architecture of colonial expansion. The seminar will also explore how centering Native peoples allows for a rethinking of United States constitutional history and American public law more broadly.

Junior faculty and grad students in political science, history, law, and Native American Studies, come take a class with us at the New York Historical Society (and via Zoom) on Native Peoples, American Colonialism, and the U.S. Constitution.

To apply, Institute for Constitutional History: 1/2

Enduring Empire by katrina quisumbing king

Enduring Empire by katrina quisumbing king

Conservative Judges Love to Tell a Certain Story About American History. It’s Dead Wrong. The glaring omissions in originalists’ version of the country’s founding document.

This week on Amicus: A fascinating conversation about the meaning of the Constitution as understood by Native nations in 1789—and whether squeezing their perspectives into an “originalist” framework risks legitimizing the government-led atrocities that followed. slate.com/podcasts/ami...

Law and History Review: A Call for an Editor [We have the following announcement from the Publications Committee of the American Society for Legal History .  DRE]  After eight years of ...

We're searching for a new Editor-in-Chief! Please see Call for Applications:
legalhistoryblog.blogspot.com/2025/08/law-...

Colorado State Capitol Memorial - Sand Creek Massacre Foundation Descendants of the massacre are leading the effort to install a bronze memorial at the Colorado State Capitol honoring the victims & tribal resilience.

Please consider donating to the new Sand Creek monument for the Colorado statehouse, memorializing the massacre of over 200 Cheyennes and Arapahoes in 1864. The project is guided by descendants of the effected Indigenous communities.

www.sandcreekmassacrefoundation.org/memorial

Muscogee Nation court rules descendants of enslaved people are entitled to citizenship The Muscogee Nation Supreme Court has ruled in favor of two descendants of former slaves held by the tribe.

This is huge.
apnews.com/article/musc...

John Gast's "American Progress"--now on the official account of the Department of Homeland Security. Constitutionalism is more than text, especially in domains like expansion, dispossession, and borders (where there isn't much text)--it is also ideas about "nature," values, principles, and ideology.

Same. So very much, same.