Anthony Gregory

Assistant Professor

Anthony Gregory is a legal and political historian of the United States. He has published research and taught classes on American politics and law, constitutionalism, liberalism, crime and punishment, and the security state. His newest and forthcoming book, New Deal Law and Order: How the War on Crime Built the Modern Liberal State, is scheduled to be published in spring 2024 by Harvard University Press. The book argues that New Deal criminal justice policy achieved political legitimacy around a broad agenda of opposing lawlessness. The book shows how President Roosevelt and Attorney General Homer Cummings formed new relations that bridged partisan, ideological, regional, institutional, racial and class divides to expand crime-fighting powers at all levels of government. This New Deal undertaking transformed federalism and liberalism and modernized American politics.

Gregory received his PhD at UC Berkeley, where he also studied as an undergraduate. Before coming to RISD he was a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University’s Political Theory Project. At Berkeley, Brown and RISD he has taught broadly on US history and politics. His publications have explored America’s long political and legal arc and include two books, The Power of Habeas Corpus in America: From the King’s Prerogative to the War on Terror (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and American Surveillance: Intelligence, Privacy, and the Fourth Amendment (University of Wisconsin Press, 2016), as well as articles in Law and History Review and The Journal of the Early Republic.  

Academic areas of interest

20th-century politics and culture
American legal and constitutional history 
Criminal justice and the security state 
Political and legal theory
Race and state power 
US and the world

Courses

Fall 2023 Courses

HPSS S226-01 - MODERN AMERICAN HISTORY
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S226-01

MODERN AMERICAN HISTORY

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: MW | 9:40 AM - 11:10 AM Instructor(s): Anthony Gregory Location(s): Washington Place, Room 018 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course serves as a survey of U.S. history since the Civil War, as well as an introduction to history as a discipline. The class discussions, readings, and assignments will track three major stories: the restructuring of national power in relation to American society and the world; the dramatic transformation of the American economy; and the redefinition of national identity and belonging along racial, gender, class, and other lines of differentiation. The overarching theme of these three interlocking stories is the contested promise of American freedom, from the aftermath of the Civil War, Reconstruction and the Plains Wars to the elections of Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden. This course will familiarize students with fundamental skills for historical work, aiming to empower them to understand and contest historical narrative and to use historical reasoning in other life contexts.

Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students.

Elective

HPSS S224-01 - EARLY NEW ENGLAND: POWER AND IDENTITY
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S224-01

EARLY NEW ENGLAND: POWER AND IDENTITY

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: T | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Anthony Gregory Location(s): Washington Place, Room 018 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This lecture course will consider the history of the New England region from colonization to the American Civil War. Students will encounter three main stories:

(1) the construction of racial and political identity through conflict and war, from the Pequot War of the 1630s to the Civil War of the 1860s

(2) the struggle between slavery and freedom over roughly the same period

(3) the interaction between material factors and ideas in shaping society and culture in the 1600s through 1800s.

We will discuss major indigenous groups, their presence long before English settlement and their continuing survival; the complicated legacies of Puritan politics and thought; how the major wars between indigenous people and Anglo settlers drove the institutionalization of slavery, imperialism, and even the Salem witch trials; transformations in political economy; the rise and fall of African enslavement in the region; Black and indigenous experiences in the American Revolution; early 19th century labor, reform, abolitionist and feminist social movements; Bostonian hegemony; and New England’s radically shifting relationships with the Atlantic World, North America, and the early United States. Through readings, class discussions, written work and examinations students will improve their skills in engaging history as an analytical discipline.  

Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students

Elective

Wintersession 2024 Courses

HPSS W505-101 - PUPPETS IN MODERN AMERICAN CULTURE AND MEDIA
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Wintersession 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS W505-101

PUPPETS IN MODERN AMERICAN CULTURE AND MEDIA

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Wintersession 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-01-04 to 2024-02-07
Times: F | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/19/2024 - 01/19/2024; W | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/17/2024 - 01/17/2024; T | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/16/2024 - 01/16/2024; F | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/12/2024 - 01/12/2024; T | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/09/2024 - 01/09/2024; F | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/05/2024 - 01/05/2024; T | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 02/06/2024 - 02/06/2024; F | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 02/02/2024 - 02/02/2024; W | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/31/2024 - 01/31/2024; T | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/30/2024 - 01/30/2024; F | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/26/2024 - 01/26/2024; T | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM | 01/23/2024 - 01/23/2024 Instructor(s): Anthony Gregory Location(s): Washington Place, Room 310 Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

For millennia, puppetry has been an artform used in everything from religious ritual to entertainment in cultures across the world. In this class students will encounter an idiosyncratic and episodic examination of puppetry with an emphasis on the late modern era and especially twentieth-century American media and culture. The course will consider puppetry’s historical importance as a signifier of childhood, a pioneer of theater, an artifact of the abject, a mystical technology, a cinematic special effect, a literary device, and a metaphor in politics, art, and life. The class with engage the majesty of puppetry through film and video screenings; close readings; poetry, song and art; student presentations; mini-lectures; and discussions.
Elective

Spring 2024 Courses

HPSS S101-20 - TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S101-20

TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: TTH | 2:50 PM - 4:20 PM Instructor(s): Anthony Gregory Location(s): Washington Place, Room 021A Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

You may register for this section if your EFS studio days are Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

Has “law and order” always had the political connotations it does today? In pondering this

question, students will learn about the craft of history, how it is studied, researched, and written. Students will trace the history with a consideration of three origin stories:

(1) the construction of racial hierarchy

(2) the policing of socio-economic boundaries

(3) state-building and political development.

Specific issues include criminal enforcement in the American Revolution; the birth of urban police forces; law enforcement’s role in slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow; 20th century reformers and anti-vice crusades; the FBI, national security state, and the bipartisan wars on crime since the late twentieth century. More generally the course aims to teach students what it means to study history, how to learn the major narratives, themes and subject matter that drive historical debates, and how to empower themselves to join the fray of historical discourse with their own well-informed perspectives.

Transfer and upper-level students should register for one of the evening sections.

Major Requirement | BFA

HPSS S101-19 - TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S101-19

TOPICS: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: TF | 1:10 PM - 2:40 PM Instructor(s): Anthony Gregory Location(s): Washington Place, Room 021A Enrolled / Capacity: 20 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

You may register for this section if your EFS studio days are Monday/Wednesday/Thursday.

Has “law and order” always had the political connotations it does today? In pondering this

question, students will learn about the craft of history, how it is studied, researched, and written. Students will trace the history with a consideration of three origin stories:

(1) the construction of racial hierarchy

(2) the policing of socio-economic boundaries

(3) state-building and political development.

Specific issues include criminal enforcement in the American Revolution; the birth of urban police forces; law enforcement’s role in slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow; 20th century reformers and anti-vice crusades; the FBI, national security state, and the bipartisan wars on crime since the late twentieth century. More generally the course aims to teach students what it means to study history, how to learn the major narratives, themes and subject matter that drive historical debates, and how to empower themselves to join the fray of historical discourse with their own well-informed perspectives.

Transfer and upper-level students should register for one of the evening sections.

Major Requirement | BFA

HPSS S229-01 - U.S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY
Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS S229-01

U.S CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY

Level Undergraduate
Unit History, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences
Subject History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: TH | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Anthony Gregory Location(s): Design Center, Room 211 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course takes up the constitutional history of the United States, in both its legal and political dimensions. Topics will include the founding of the republic, constitutional crises, the relationship between common law and the constitution, the transformation of the constitutional order in the Civil War and Reconstruction, Supreme Court jurisprudence, and the great challenges posed in holding politics and law accountable to constitutional accountability. Through mini-lectures, readings, class discussions, written work, and presentations, students will improve their skills in engaging history as an analytical discipline.

Prerequisite: HPSS-S101 for Undergraduate Students.

Elective