Petitioning for Freedom: Habeas Corpus in the American West, 1812-1924

Abstract

Tribal Constitutions, Citing Slavery, andPetitioning for Freedom are digital legal history projects focused onexpressions of sovereignty within tribal constitutions, the remnants of slaveryin modern law, and the underexamined role of habeas petitioners in challengingcoercion and confinement in the long-nineteenth-century United States. Eachproject deploys legal databases differently, but with the shared goal ofcontributing key insights to legal historical scholarship and offeringinterfaces that appeal to a broad, public audience.

Keywords

• Database
• Unpublished Archival Records
• Tribal Constitutions
• Slavery
• Habeas Corpus