Participant Info

First Name
Rachel
Last Name
Shelden
Country
United States
State
PA
Affiliation
Penn State University
Website URL
https://rachelshelden.com
Keywords
political history, U.S. Supreme Court, constitutional history, legal history, Jacksonian Era, U.S. Civil War era, antebellum, Reconstruction, slavery, emancipation, the American founding
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I am an associate professor of history and Director of the George and Ann Richards Civil War Era Center at Penn State University. My new book, The Political Supreme Court: A Forgotten History (UNC Press/Hodding Carter III), argues that the U.S. Supreme Court was a political body–both by design and in practice–for the first 100 years of the nation. The book explores the political activities of the early justices, as well as the political structure and function of the federal judiciary.

As the director of the Richards Center, I oversee several important programs and projects on Civil War-era America, including postdoctoral, predoctoral, and mid-career fellowships, the flagship journal of the period The Journal of the Civil War Era, the annual Brose Lecture and Book Series, and several others.

Recent Publications

Books:

Rachel A. Shelden, The Political Supreme Court: A Forgotten History (UNC Press/Hodding Carter III imprint, 2026).

Rachel A. Shelden, Washington Brotherhood: Politics, Social Life, and the Coming of the Civil War (UNC Press, 2013).

Gary W. Gallagher and Rachel A. Shelden, eds., A Political Nation: New Directions in Mid-Nineteenth Century American Political History (UVA Press, 2012).

 

Recent Articles:

“The Griffin’s Case Phenomenon and the Problem of Historical Knowledge in Legal Arguments,” William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 33 (March 2025): 397-410: http://wm.billofrightsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/04_Shelden_The-Griffins-Case-Phenomenon.pdf

“Finding Meaning in the Congressional Globe: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Problem of ConstitutionalArchives,” Journal of American Constitutional History 2 (Summer 2024): 715-733: https://jach.law.wisc.edu/finding-meaning-congressional-globe/

“Dismantling the Party System: Party Fluidity and the Mechanisms of Nineteenth-Century U.S. Politics,” (with Erik Alexander), Journal of American History 110 (December 2023): 419-448

“‘I shall not entirely forget or forsake politics on the Bench’: Abraham Lincoln, Dred Scott, and the Political Culture of the Judiciary in the 1850s,” Maryland Law Review 83 (November 2023): 217-230: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol83/iss1/8/

“Anatomy of a Presidential Campaign from the Supreme Court Bench: John McLean, Levi Woodbury, and the Election of 1848,” Journal of Supreme Court History 47 (December 2022): 241-264

Media Coverage
Country Focus
United States
Expertise by Geography
United States
Expertise by Chronology
19th century
Expertise by Topic
American Civil War, American Founding Era, American Presidents, Emancipation, Government, Law, Politics, Race, Slavery