On Thursday, November 17th, nearly 300 students, staff, and faculty attended a lecture event presented by Discourse in Democracy. The speaker was Dr. Justin Dyer, the Jack G. Taylor Regents Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. His lecture, “Natural Law & The Antislavery Constitutional Tradition,” explored the Constitution’s treatment of slavery and the tension that the continued existence of slavery in the nineteenth century created between practice and principle.
In addition to the lecture, Dr. Dyer hosted a seminar for two dozen political science majors exploring the intellectual roots of the American constitutional system.
Liam Trapane, a political science student who attended the lecture, commented that “Justin Dyer was an interesting speaker. His lecture cast a lot of light on how the Constitution was used to support the antislavery position in nineteenth century America, and the seminar raised some intriguing questions about the impact of classical and Christian political thought on the founding and the nature and limits of social contract theory.”
Dr. Dyer’s books include Liberal Education and Citizenship in a Free Society, American Soul: The Contested Legacy of the Declaration of Independence, Natural Law and the Antislavery Constitutional Tradition, and The Classical and Christian Origins of American Politics.
