U.S. Constitutional History follows the changing institutions, arguments, and conflicts that shaped American government from its English and colonial antecedents to modern constitutional controversies. The course examines colonial self-government, independence, the Articles of Confederation, state constitutions, the Philadelphia Convention, ratification, and the early republic’s efforts to put the new framework into operation. It then considers competing theories of federalism, state sovereignty, delegated and implied powers, judicial review, nullification, secession, and territorial slavery before turning to the Civil War and Reconstruction Amendments. Later lessons trace Progressive centralization, substantive due process, the New Deal’s expansion of federal authority, incorporation, civil-rights legislation, and the Warren and Burger Courts. Throughout, cases, constitutional provisions, amendments, and founding-era documents illuminate recurring disputes over the Union’s character, the division of governmental power, civil liberties, and the proper roles of courts, Congress, presidents, and states.