Spring 2020 Virtual Arts and Letters Salon

Saturday, April 4, 2020 at 3:00 PM until 4:15 PMEastern Daylight Time UTC -04:00

AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY: ESTABLISHING THE SUPREME COURT IN THE 1790S

Presented by Dr. Jude Pfister G’07

Jude Pfister, G’07, will discuss his 2018 book, The Creation of American Law: John Jay, Oliver Ellsworth, and the 1790s Supreme Court. The book was inspired by his 2007 dissertation. With the Constitutional Convention in 1787, America was set on a course to develop a unique system of law with roots in the English common law tradition. This new system, its foundations in Article III of the Constitution, called for a national judiciary headed by a supreme court (the only court actually created by the Constitution)—which first met in 1790. This talk will provide a history of America’s national law with a look at those who set in motion not only the new Supreme Court, but also the new federal judiciary.

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