American Legal History Research Guide

This research guide in American legal history includes materials dealing with settlement through the twentieth century.

The Civil War, Confederate Resources, & the Reconstruction Era

As some of the most studied eras in American history, resources are abundant from the Civil War and Reconstruction Eras.  With historical events fundamentally altering every aspect of American life, nearly every aspect of the law was also touched by the tumult threatening the nation.  The resources here begin to touch on the variety of studies, databases, academic works, and more that this era of legal history has to offer.  However, due to the sheer magnitude of materials available, this page only scratches the surface of available resources and researchers should look to cast wide nets beyond what is linked here.

In this section see "Books" for both generalized coverage and in depth specific interest area coverage of various topics.  "Web Resources" and "Databases" will lead varying resources that encourage access to primary materials as well as link to specific articles and documents.

Books

Databases

Web Resources