Every student must do a research paper.  These papers should be 8-12 pages in length, and must deal with one of the three general topics below.  In each case, I will try to pair you with another student who will be doing a parallel but distinct aspect of the same topic, and you will be encouraged to work with that student in developing your paper (although the final draft must be your own).  The paper will go through the stages, each with a specific "due date," listed below; the first "due date" will be the selection of a paper topic by    

Schedule of Assignment Dates for Paper:

Class 5 (Feb. 2nd): Have selected a tropic (one of the three below) and specified the (A) state ratification debate, (B) issue in New Jersey law, or (C) Supreme Court case you wish to research.  .

Class 11 (Feb. 23rd):  Provide one-page photocopy of (A) key document in ratification debate; (B) first-page of decision by New Jersey appellate court or from state with which you are comparing New Jersey; (C) brief from one side of the Supreme Court case.

Class 20 (April 1st): Turn in a one-page statement that concisely summarizes the argument on both sides of the issue or case.  Cite the documents you are using on both sides of the debate or case.  You, or you and your partner, may be called upon to discuss with the class what you have uncovered.  This will be graded for clarity and completeness and count 20% of the final paper grade.  If it comes in late, it will be marked down one letter grade.  Those doing the moot court debate that day will have an additional class period to complete this part of the assignment.

Class 24 (April 15th): Provide a rough draft of the paper of no more than five pages long.  The introduction should explain why the issue or case was important.  The body of the paper should explain the arguments made by both sides; and the conclusion should explain why you believe the arguments were more persuasive on one side than the other, and how the historical period in which the issue/case arose may have affected the outcome..

Class 26 (April 22nd): Analysis returned; students edit before resubmitting.

Class 28 (April 29th): Submit final paper, can be up to 8-12 pages but NOT LONGER.

(A) Topic One:  Debates over the Ratification of the Constitution.   After the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 concluded, the newly drafted Constitution was sent to the thirteen states for ratification by conventions of "the people" in each state.  In most states, there was a vigorous political debate between the supporters of ratification (the Federalists) and those opposed or who wanted amendments (anti-Federalists).  Debate was carried on initially in newspaper essays and correspondence, then in the ratification conventions themselves.  Paired with a second student, your paper should explore the arguments and language used by the proponents and opponents of ratification.  You can split the analysis between proponents and opponents, or each paper can look at those on both sides as they spoke on different issues (for example, the need for a bill of rights, the nature of representation, the fear of executive tyranny, etc).  
    The Library owns the multi-volume Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, edited by Merrill Jensen, et al., 1976-   .  The call number is KF4502.D63, followed by a volume number.  Most of these volumes deal with ratification debates in individual states, and among the states covered to date (this in an on-going project) are Pennsylvania (vol. 2); Delaware, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut (vol. 3);  Massachusetts (vol. 4-7);  Virginia (vol. 8-10);  New York (vol. 19-23).   The remaining state volumes have not yet been published.  The Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York collections are ideally suited for a paper.   The records are lengthy, but well indexed so you can focus on differences of opinion relatively easily.  The study need not be exhaustive, but it needs to use multiple sources to clarify what was at stake in the debate, and the political terminology people at that time used to address the issues.  (These are issues we will fully and carefully discuss ias we reenact the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, so you should be well grounded in the issues and language before you begin to investigate the state debate.)

(B)  Topic Two: New Jersey State Law.  In the 19th century, state appellate courts handed down most of the important legal decisions.  These decisions applied traditional English common law to the conditions of a new country, now no longer tied directly to Great Britain.  The most significant decisions generally dealt with economic issues, as judges sought to shape and respond to the rapidly changing commercial economy of the early 19th century, but there were also changes in criminal law, laws governing the family, and other areas of the law.  
    In your paper, you and one other student will compare a major state law opinion(s) from New Jersey with a similar opinion(s) from another state in the period from the 1780s to 1860.  You may each take a different state (New Jersey and a second state of your choice), or you may each take a separate issue and compare the two states treatment of that issue.
    Appellate court opinions (as well as law journal articles from the past, and many other legal sources) are available through the Westlaw database.  This database can be accessed through the Rutgers Library webpage by following these steps::  

1.     Go to the Rutgers Library website: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/
         If not at a campus terminal, you can log in at the upper left corner of the screen by following the link.  You must do this to use the database below.
2.     Point at "Find Articles" on the right, and then select "Indexes and Databases"  link.
3.     Click on the "W" from the alphabetical list at the bottom on the screen, and then click on "Westlaw Campus Research"
4.     Click on "Connect"  (You'll only be able to do this if you are at a campus terminal or have logged in.)
5.     Click on "Law" on the bar slightly below the top of the page.
6.     You can now do a search.  Try putting in some key words in the search spaces.  Under "Dates," use the drop down menu, pick "between," and enter two years to limit your search (for example, 1790 and 1820, or 1820 and 1860); and from "Cases," check (click) "State Cases" and from the drop-down menu, select "New Jersey."   You can obviously modify these as you begin to focus in on a good subject for comparison.

    Possible topics: (search words):  abortion, apprenticeship, counterfeit, divorce, fornication, fraud, insanity, insolvent debtor, manumission, mill dam, murder, negligence, slave(s), treason, waste, water course

(C)  Arguments before the Early Supreme Court.  Before a case is argued at the appellate level, lawyers customarily submitted "briefs" to the court outlining the arguments that would be made.   These briefs, plus the majority and dissenting opinions (if any), can be used to examine the constitutional and policy issues in a case.  Your paper should explore the issues in the case, the arguments made on both sides of the case, how the court resolved the issues, and what the consequences of the decisions were or were presumed to be for society more generally.  The case must be one that we haven't discussed in the class.
      The cases themselves can be found through Westlaw, discussed above.  The briefs, if not in Westlaw, are in the published volumes of the Landmark Briefs series in the government documents section of Alexander Library.  You'll find about 200 volumes of briefs (in red binding) in Stack 28 of the Government Documents area on the 1st floor of Alexander Library.  The volumes are arranged chronologically.   The most likely cases include:

Ware v. Hylton (1796)
Osborn v. Bank of the United States (1824)
Brown v. Maryland (1827)
Shanks v. Dupont (1830) - no briefs, but a dissenting opinion.
Swift v. Tyson (1842)
West River Bridge Co. v. Dix (1848)
Luther v. Borden (1849)
Murray's Lessee v. Hoboken (1856)