The History and Legacy of the Reconstruction Amendments: a Conference on Constitutional Reform from 1860-1875

We are excited to announce a one-day conference exploring the drafting and legacy of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, to be held at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University on Saturday 30 July 2022.

The conference is being organized by the Quill Project at Pembroke College Oxford to celebrate the publication of a major digital collection exploring the drafting of these amendments and related legislation.

About the Quill Project
The Quill Project is a centre based at Pembroke College Oxford that explores the negotiation of legal texts, most especially the various constitutional conventions that have shaped American state and federal constitutional law. The project publishes interactive digital editions that help us understand how large groups of people have collectively drafted legal texts. The research centre emphasizes multi-disciplinary approaches, the development of digital approaches that enhance our understanding of legislative history, and collaborative methods of working that include partnerships with other institutions and the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in its research projects. More details about the Quill Project can be found at www.quill.pmb.ox.ac.uk. You can explore the research platform developed by the centre at www.quillproject.net.

In the summer of 2022 the project will publish a major new collection that explores the congressional history of proposals constitutional reform and related legislation in the period 1860-1875, from the Corwin Amendment to the 1875 Civil Rights Act. This project is being completed in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Studies at Utah Valley University. A pre-release preview of the collection is available www.quillproject.net/library_collection/3.