ACS conference Thursday and Friday

The American Constitution Society is presenting a conference this week at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. The conference is free to attend, though you have to register, and includes an event at the National Constitution Center. Events will be taking place this Thursday and Friday, 13 and 14 November 2008.

The Second Founding And The Reconstruction Amendments: Toward A More Perfect Union

n current legal debates, many invoke "the founding" of the Constitution yet focus only on the eighteenth-century framing, and ignore the significant changes to our country and our Constitution wrought by the Civil War. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments profoundly altered, among other things, the rights of individuals, the power of the federal government and the meaning of citizenship. The Second Founding conference will bring together legal scholars, historians, practitioners and others to examine the history and substance of the Reconstruction Amendments, how those Amendments fundamentally changed the meaning of our governing document, and how their promise - largely forgotten even as originalism flourishes - can be fulfilled.

More information, including panel descriptions and directions to the venues. Also:

The Legacy of 1808: Deconstructing Reconstruction

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, popularly known as the "Reconstruction Amendments," profoundly altered–among other things–the rights of individuals, the power of the federal government and the meaning of citizenship. To address the history and substance of the Reconstruction Amendments, and what those changes mean in our democracy today, the National Constitution Center welcomes their 2008 Visiting Scholars Ted Shaw and Martha Jones, as well as special guest Steven Calabresi for a discussion titled "Deconstructing Reconstruction."

More information, including registration instructions (no admission charge to the discussion) and a completely gratuitous 3-D map of Independence Mall.