The Making of Modern Law:

Primary Sources, Part II, 1763-1970

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The Making of Modern Law:

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Product Category: Gale Primary Sources

Series: The Making of Modern Law

Pages: More than 1.6 million

Fact Sheet: View PDF

Access state and municipal codes and other documents that tell the story of three centuries of American legal history.

The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, Part II, 1763-1970 supports far-reaching research in legal and social history, from the eighteenth century to the era following World War II. Consisting of US state and territorial codes, municipal codes, and constitutional conventions and compilations, students and scholars of America's common-law heritage will find this resource invaluable for tracing major legal topics across all states and territories.

The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, Part II, 1763-1970 is a fully-searchable digital archive of US state and territorial codes, municipal codes, and constitutional conventions and compilations. This collection's easy-to-use search engine makes it possible to seek out one-time information throughout dozens of disparate texts, allowing for the thorough researching of nearly every aspect of American legal development.

The term "primary sources" is used not in the historian's sense of a manuscript, letter or diary, but rather in the legal sense of a case, statute or regulation. The Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources, Part II, 1763-1970 brings together in one place many of the important documents that had been lost, destroyed, or previously inaccessible to researchers of American legal history around the world.

Topics addressed in this collection include:

Debate over slavery and race law after Reconstruction
Due process
Native American & US Government Relations
African Americans and women's right to vote
Progressive Era and New Deal legislation
Crime and punishment (penal codes)
Health and safety codes
Business and corporate law
Revenue and taxation
Welfare and labor
Military and veterans affairs
Education and school systems
Transportation

Look Inside

Source: Woman Suffrage facts cartooned Cleona, Pennsylvania, 1915.

Source: Moore, Edwin Abner. The Code of the District of Columbia (To March 4, 1929) a Consolidation and Codification of the Laws, General and Permanent in their Nature, Relating to or in Force in the District of Columbia, Except Such Laws as are of Application in the District of Columbia by Reason of Being Laws of the United States General and Permanent in their Nature [With Ancillaries and Index]Washington, 1930.

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Charter of the City and County of San Francisco Prepared and Proposed by the Board of Freeholders Elected December 27, 1897, in Pursuance of the Provisions of Section 8, Article XI, of the Constitution of the State of California. California, 1900

Additional Details

subjects covered

Law & Legal Studies
U.S. History

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Platform Features & Tools

Term Frequency

Researchers can see the frequency of search terms within sets of content to begin identifying central themes and assessing how individuals, places, events, and ideas interact and develop over time.

Topic Finder

By grouping commonly occurring themes, this tool reveals hidden connections within search terms—helping to shape research by integrating diverse content with relevant information.

Cross-Search Capability

Search across the content of complementary primary source products, including books, in one united, intuitive environment, enabling innovative new research connections.