Slavery and the American Revolution: The Constitution's Counter-Revolution

This lecture explores the work done by the 1787 Constitution to repair the damage to the slave system wrought during the Revolutionary War. While the Constitution never used the word “slave,” it created a political system that protected and empowered enslavers.

Dr. Richard Bell is Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He holds a PhD from Harvard University and is author of the new book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home. He has won more than a dozen teaching awards, including the University System of Maryland Board of Regents Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award. He serves as a Trustee of the Maryland Historical Society, as an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

An invitation to join this online workshop will be sent to participants 1-2 days prior to the event.