Final Projects

Due December 19 by 5pm

By Friday, December 19, students will submit a 10- to 12-page narrative paper that analyzes an amendment, landmark Supreme Court case or major constitutional crisis between the period 1876 to 1976 that resulted in a practical change to the US Constitution. Students should build their papers on a strong foundation of primary and secondary sources to tell a story that puts specific historical figures and their constitutional arguments with each other at the center.  All papers should be typed and double-spaced as Word or PDF documents with title page and Chicago-style footnotes (no bibliography required).  Papers will be graded on research effort, analysis, and prose.  These final papers are due by 5pm on December 19.

  • Students should consult with Prof. Pinsker over email as they make decisions about choosing their paper topics.  
  • Please open your paper with a descriptive title and your name (byline).
  • Make sure to address a question and devise a thesis statement that can be effectively argued in a short paper.  Consult the Methods Center handout on How to Write a Thesis Statement 
  • Research effort is key for this paper.  You will need to find both relevant primary and secondary sources. To get started, look carefully at the course’s site web guide, but also remember that often it is easiest to find primary sources only AFTER reviewing some basic secondary (and especially reference) sources.  You can find high quality academic sources via our online library catalog or through database resources such as JSTOR and America: History & Life.  Take advantage of Google Books as well for its full text search capability and extensive snippet view. The most important reference source starting point, however, is American National Biography Online (available through the library database finder.  Also make sure to consult the History research guide from the library.  
  • Here is a model student paper from a different class but one that involves good narrative and legal / political issues connected to the Second Founding:  Aidan McDonald, Amos T. Ackerman and Reconstruction (Spring 2016)
  • For a different type of model, see this website project by Jordyn Ney (from an earlier version of this class) on the landmark case: Furman v. Georgia
  • Here is a sample outline of a typical narrative paper that might focus on a Supreme Court case:
    1. Introduction (1-2 pps)
      1. Striking quotation or narrative vignette + clear thesis statement
      2. Engage readers and provide analytical framework
    2. Background & Context (2-3 pps)
      1. Insights on the litigants and the case’s evolution
      2. Insights on the Supreme Court justices
      3. Rely on secondary sources here
    3. Case Analysis (2-3 pps)
      1. Focus on the arguments among justices and the decision
      2. Explain the landscape of the debate
      3. Show primary source research effort here
    4. Consequences (2-3 pps)
      1. Focus on how case changed constitutional law
      2. Consider the impact of decision across a wide public
      3. Use both primary and secondary sources
    5. Conclusion (1-2 pps)
      1. Return to (and refine) opening analysis
      2. Explain significance