AMH 3552, Spring 2008

First short assignment

In Minor v. Happersett (1874) the Supreme Court discussed the nature of “citizenship.” The question before the Court was whether a woman was a citizen, and therefore entitled to vote, by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Write a paper in which you a) explain the Court’s analysis in this case (What did it decide about the plaintiff’s claim? Why? What was its logic?) and b) compare it to the other discussions of citizenship in the cases we have read to this point this semester.

With respect to point b, you should consider whether the Court’s analysis of the cases or understanding of citizenship changed between Minor (an early case) and the cases of the late nineteenth century.

For purposes of this paper, you may discuss any case we read this semester up to and including the Insular Cases, but go no further. You need not discuss all the cases we have read so far, but you must discuss some.

Your papers should be double spaced and typed in a traditional font (ie, Courier, Times Roman, Arial) and size (11 or 12 pt type). Please review the syllabus for details about how long the paper should be, and my syllabus and my website for details on plagiarism policy. Your papers are due Thursday, February 1, at the start of class.