Allison Gorsuch
I am in my third year at Yale studying 19th century American history. My main research interests are the law in slavery and freedom, conceptions of legal competency, and competing visions of law in the antebellum Northwest Territory. I am also especially interested in the Midwest as a historical region.
My dissertation focuses on disputes over labor, property, and jurisdiction in the territorial courts of the Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota territories. At Yale, I work with Professors David Blight, John Faragher, Claire Priest, and Ed Rugemer. My examination fields include U.S. Legal History, Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Atlantic World, and the United States from Revolution to Reconstruction.
Originally from Minnesota, I received a B.A. in American Culture from the University of Michigan. Before I began my graduate study, I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in Oregon, developing a Community Land Trust program for affordable housing. My non-academic interests include cycling, reading mystery novels, and playing the fiddle.
Please feel free to email me with any questions about graduate history study at Yale.
