Lincoln to be topic of Constitution Day lecture

RELEASED: Sept. 11, 2008

DANVILLE, KY—Herman Belz, a constitutional historian with particular interest in the Civil War and Reconstruction years, will speak in Young Hall 101 on Constitution Day, Wednesday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m. In conjunction with the College's Year of Lincoln, his convocation lecture, entitled "Lincoln, Secession, and the Making of a 'More Perfect Union,'" will focus on the constitutional meaning of a more perfect union.

Belz's discussion will touch on many topics, most notably ambiguity concerning the nature of the Union in the antebellum period with respect to the federal principle and the republican principle of free society; conflicting constitutional arguments in the 1850s regarding slavery and popular sovereignty; Lincoln's construction of the executive power and the nature of the Union in taking the measure of secession.

Ultimately, Belz will argue that Lincoln's aim was not simply preservation of the Union but the making of a more perfect union.

"Professor Belz is a noted constitutional historian with a special interest in Lincoln's presidency—a period that redefined the Constitution that we live under today," says Dan Stroup, Pierce and Amelia Harrington Lively Professor of Government and Law. "His lecture will be a great way to help Centre celebrate both Constitution Day and the College's 'Year of Lincoln.'"

Belz is professor emeritus of history in the University of Maryland and academic director of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, Washington, D.C. He is the author of numerous books, including Abraham Lincoln, Constitutionalism, and Equal Rights in the Civil War Era (1998), A Living Constitution or Fundamental Law? American Constitutionalism in Historical Perspective (1998), and Equality Transformed: A Quarter Century of Affirmative Action (1991). Professor Belz is co-author of The American Constitution: Its Origin and Development (7th ed., 1991). His articles and reviews have appeared in a variety of scholarly publications and journals of opinion, including Commentary, The Claremont Review of Books, Policy Review, Times Literary Supplement, The World and I, and The American Spectator.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Consumers Digest ranks Centre No. 1 in educational value among all U.S. liberal arts colleges, and Forbes magazine ranks Centre No. 13 in the nation among all colleges and universities. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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