Each year, UNC School of Law organizes the campus-wide Constitution Day celebration to commemorate September 17, the day on which the Constitution of the United States was signed. Constitution Day allows schools and colleges across the country to reflect on United States history, the deeper meanings within the Constitution, and the hopes it represents for the future.
Last year, Carolina Law celebrated the federal observance on September 17 with a presentation by associate professor of law Marcus Gadson, exploring themes from his book “Sedition: How America’s Constitutional Order Emerged from Violent Crisis.” The talk examined how moments of constitutional crisis shaped the framework of American constitutionalism. It also traced episodes when dissent and disorder threatened to destabilize the young republic and how leaders responded — sometimes repressively, sometimes with reform — in ways that forged the institutions and norms we now take for granted.
Gadson’s presentation connected past crises to present-day debates over constitutional stability, inviting the audience to think critically about the relationship between dissent, legitimacy, and resilience in American democracy.
Professor Gadson is one of the nation’s leading authorities on state constitutions and has published articles in top journals including the NYU Law Review, Michigan Law Review, and Georgetown Law Journal. Before joining Carolina Law, he taught at Campbell University, where he won Professor of the Year three times in a row. Prior to entering academia, Professor Gadson practiced at Steptoe and Johnson in Washington, D.C. and served as a law clerk to Judge Bernice Donald of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and teaches courses in Civil Procedure, State Constitutional Law, and North Carolina Constitutional Law.
