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David H. Gans

@davidhgans.bsky.social
845 followers 438 following 85 posts

Director of Civil Rights, Human Rights & Citizenship Program, Constitutional Accountability Center. He/Him. Posts are mine alone. Scholarly writing: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAu…

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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
CAC is looking for interns for Summer 2027! This is a paid position perfect for law students interested in the progressive promise of the Constitution's text and history. www.theusconstitution.org/legal-intern...
Accepting applications: Summer 2027 Legal Internship. Apply to join the CAC team today!
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Under Title IX, transgender people must be treated with equal dignity and given access to an educational environment where they can learn, thrive, and grow free from discrimination. Read our brief before the Seventh Circuit hears argument today: www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/a...
theusconstitution.org
A.C. v. Metropolitan School District of Martinsville | Constitutional Accountability Center
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Reposted by David H. Gans
Christina Proenza-Coles @proenzacoles.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
In 1848 Boston attorney Robert Morris challenged school segregation in court a century before Brown v Board of Ed. In 1787 Black Bostonians had petitioned for equal education as well. Morris fought for the rights of his Black & Irish American clients & was appointed a magistrate by the governor.
Studio portrait of a man in a suit, with watch chain, gazing directly at the viewer.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#BREAKING: #SCOTUS once again freezes the lower federal courts’ rulings in the Missouri redistricting case—and affirms that, as the Missouri Supreme Court held earlier this month, Missouri will use the 2022 map in the November elections. There were no public dissents.
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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.blacksky.app · 25/09/2026
the Court “cannot expect the public to have faith in our judicial system if, without clear explanation, we are consistently greenlighting harmful acts” i continue to think putting KBJ on the Court may be Biden's best decision, no other justice is doin it like her www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/u...
nytimes.com
Justice Jackson Calls Emergency Docket ‘Potentially Corrosive’
Hours after fielding the Trump administration’s latest emergency application, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson gave a speech urging the Supreme Court to rethink such requests.
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Brianne Gorod @briannegorod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If you're a law student who wants to spend your summer working in the public interest & is interested in appellate advocacy, apply to join the @myconstitution.bsky.social team this summer! www.theusconstitution.org/legal-intern... 1/2
theusconstitution.org
Legal Internship Summer 2027 | Constitutional Accountability Center
About CAC Constitutional Accountability Center (CAC) is a nonprofit law firm and think tank dedicated to fulfilling the inherently progressive promise of the Constitution’s text, history, and values. ...
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Niko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Deep dives like this really put into perspective what Chief Justice Rehnquist was doing in 2000 when he resurrected the Court’s precedents of the 1870s and 1880s, writing that their authors “had intimate knowledge and familiarity with the events surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment.”
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Pema Levy @pemalevy.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
In destroying the Voting Rights Act and gutting the 14th and 15th amendments, the Roberts court is recycling legal arguments once advanced by Confederates and white supremacists to destroy Reconstruction. From me and @ariberman.bsky.social
motherjones.com
Jim Crow was on the ash heap of history. Then came the Roberts court.
The disaster the justices have unleashed has its roots in one of the darkest periods of our past.
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Anti-competitive gerrymandering strikes at the heart of our democracy. Before oral argument today, read our brief on behalf of political scientists in the Wisconsin Supreme Court: www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/w... 1/2
theusconstitution.org
Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy v. Wisconsin Elections Commission | Constitutional Accountability Center
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Colored Conventions Project @ccp-org.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Happy 197th birthday to the Colored Conventions! On this day in 1830, a small group of Black leaders met secretly in Mother Bethel AME Church to plan a new movement of conventions to redeem this country's pledges for liberty. Read an early history from 1859 hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.321...
hdl.handle.net
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Anti-competitive gerrymandering strikes at the heart of our democracy. Before oral argument tomorrow, read our brief on behalf of political scientists in the Wisconsin Supreme Court: www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/w... 1/2
theusconstitution.org
Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy v. Wisconsin Elections Commission | Constitutional Accountability Center
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 15/09/2026
the truly crazy making part of all of this is that voter fraud EFFECTIVELY DOES NOT EXIST. you have a better chance of finding an actual leprechaun at the end of the rainbow than of finding evidence of voter fraud that influences an election
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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Breaking: Supreme Court, with Justices Thomas and Alito Publicly Dissenting, Continue Block on USPS Rule Through the Midterm Elections [Now updated with Analysis] electionlawblog.org/2026/breakin...
electionlawblog.org
Breaking: Supreme Court, with Justices Thomas and Alito Publicly Dissenting, Continue Block on USPS Rule Through the Midterm Elections [Now updated with Analysis] #ELB
You can find the ruling at this link. The Supreme Court, with the noted dissents of Justices Kavanaugh and Thomas, has rejected the government’s mendacious attempt to put its USPS mail ballot rule in ...
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
#BREAKING: Over public dissents from Justices Thomas and Alito, #SCOTUS *denies* the Trump administration’s request for a stay in the mail-in ballots case. The USPS Rule will remain blocked—almost certainly through the midterms.
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Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
There are so many outrageous qualified immunity decisions out there - but this one, ruling officers who pinned a woman down on a hill of fire ants while handcuffed were entitled to qualified immunity because there was no other case in which officers were so depraved, is beyond the pale.
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The Due Process Clause protects non-citizens, but the Trump administration is throwing immigrants into prolonged detention without any hearing to show why they should be detained. Read our brief to #SCOTUS explaining why this is unconstitutional: www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/g...
theusconstitution.org
Genalo v. Black | Constitutional Accountability Center
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 08/09/2026
to place the sexual and reproductive exploitation of black women at the center of your understanding of american slavery is to see that the system was forced birth and this, in turn, should lead to a more expansive vision of what the 13th amendment actually guarantees.
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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
still my favorite Civil War soldier's letter and it's not even close
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David H. Gans @davidhgans.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
I just posted a revised version of my forthcoming @stanlrev.bsky.social article on the Black Conventions of the Reconstruction era and how they shaped the 13th, 14th, and 15h Amendments. Read it here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
papers.ssrn.com
Forgotten Framers: Black Conventions and the Second Founding
This Article tells the forgotten story of the Black Conventions of the Reconstruction era, examining convenings of Black Americans across the nation during the
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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Anti-competitive gerrymandering strikes at the heart of our democracy. Read our brief in the Wisconsin Supreme Court: www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/w...
theusconstitution.org
Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy v. Wisconsin State Legislature | Constitutional Accountability Center
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
This summer, CAC welcomed five incredible interns who contributed to our work promoting the progressive promise of the text, history, and values of the U.S. Constitution. Check out their reflections on our blog: www.theusconstitution.org/blog/another...
theusconstitution.org
Another Summer Building the Next Generation of Constitutional Progressives | Constitutional Accountability Center
Kit Beyer Spending my summer at CAC was an invaluable experience. I was able to directly contribute to legal advocacy on issues that interest me, and along the way, I became a better researcher and wr...
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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The Supreme Court has long recognized the import of eradicating discrimination in First Amendment cases. Read our #SCOTUS brief on behalf of scholars explaining why the nondiscrimination policy for Colorado’s universal preschool program is constitutional: www.theusconstitution.org/litigation/s...
theusconstitution.org
St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy | Constitutional Accountability Center
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David H. Gans @davidhgans.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
A huge win for voting rights and a really important vindication of the text and history of the 26th Amendment.
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The Roberts Court has read the 14th Amendment as a justification to lock in racial subordination and to immunize bias and prejudice from scrutiny. Read more from @davidhgans.bsky.social in @slate.com: slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
It’s Shocking to Consider the Roberts Court Perspective on Race
There is one loud lesson to be found in this term’s rulings.
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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Last term the Roberts Courts gutted the Voting Rights Act and allowed states to undermine the voting power of Black communities. More from CAC's @davidhgans.bsky.social in conversation with @nharnie.bsky.social: www.podomatic.com/podcasts/sta...
podomatic.com
Arnie Arnesen Attitude July 16 2026
Part 1:We talk with Brett DeJager, asst. Prof. of Counseling, Rehab, and Human Services at U. of Wisconsin, Stout.We discuss the us of Artificial Intelligence in schools, and how this affects students...
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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The Framers of the Reconstruction Amendments were deeply concerned with police violence. Listen to more from CAC's @davidhgans.bsky.social's conversation with @nharnie.bsky.social: www.podomatic.com/podcasts/sta...
podomatic.com
Arnie Arnesen Attitude July 16 2026
Part 1:We talk with Brett DeJager, asst. Prof. of Counseling, Rehab, and Human Services at U. of Wisconsin, Stout.We discuss the us of Artificial Intelligence in schools, and how this affects students...
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Eric Segall @espinsegall.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
“The Roberts Court sees only white. It refuses to acknowledge who the Equal Protection Clause was written to protect. The freed people, their descendants, and all others denied equal citizenship. The 14th Amend. is not colorblind. It never was.” Me? No a judge www.courts.state.hi.us/wp-content/u...
courts.state.hi.us
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
The Roberts Court rejected the principles of the Reconstruction Amendments last term. More from CAC's @davidhgans.bsky.social in conversation with @nharnie.bsky.social: www.podomatic.com/podcasts/sta...
podomatic.com
Arnie Arnesen Attitude July 16 2026
Part 1:We talk with Brett DeJager, asst. Prof. of Counseling, Rehab, and Human Services at U. of Wisconsin, Stout.We discuss the us of Artificial Intelligence in schools, and how this affects students...
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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
CAC's @davidhgans.bsky.social joined @nharnie.bsky.social to discuss the Roberts Court and ICE's killings. www.podomatic.com/podcasts/sta...
podomatic.com
Arnie Arnesen Attitude July 16 2026
Part 1:We talk with Brett DeJager, asst. Prof. of Counseling, Rehab, and Human Services at U. of Wisconsin, Stout.We discuss the us of Artificial Intelligence in schools, and how this affects students...
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Reposted by David H. Gans
Joanna Schwartz @jcschwartzprof.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Yes, please. In 2029, a Democratic Congress and President should take these basic but important steps to allow people to sue federal officers and supervisors for constitutional violations. In the meantime, states can take - and are taking - these steps today.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Wrote about the Roberts Court’s highly selective aversion to identifying racism, echoing the logic of the infamous Korematsu decision, which the Roberts Court has both condemned and imitated. Call it Neo-Korematsu doctrine. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...
In Trump v. Hawaii, Roberts wrote that “the forcible relocation of U. S. citizens to concentration camps, solely and explicitly on the basis of race, is objectively unlawful and outside the scope of Presidential authority.” But the author of the Korematsu opinion, having exchanged his white robe for a dark one, would have agreed. After all, Hugo Black wrote that “pressing public necessity”—not “racial antagonism”—motivated the Japanese-internment policy. Black upheld Fred Korematsu’s conviction because he argued that the presence of a national-security motive meant the racism against Japanese Americans didn’t count. And that is exactly the logic the Roberts Court has followed in so many cases. This reasoning—Black’s reasoning—has been reiterated again and again by Roberts and his right-wing colleagues to sanction discrimination against the vulnerable populations targeted by the Republican Party.

The Korematsu decision may be overturned by the “court of history.” But its legacy lives on in the Roberts Court.
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
The Roberts Court's invocations of colorblindness are a one-way ratchet deployed against efforts to undo racial subordination. Read more from @davidhgans.bsky.social in @slate.com: slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
It’s Shocking to Consider the Roberts Court Perspective on Race
There is one loud lesson to be found in this term’s rulings.
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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
The Roberts Court has read the 14th Amendment as a justification to lock in racial subordination and to immunize bias and prejudice from scrutiny. Read more from @davidhgans.bsky.social in @slate.com: slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
It’s Shocking to Consider the Roberts Court Perspective on Race
There is one loud lesson to be found in this term’s rulings.
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Reposted by David H. Gans
Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
NEW: After the Civil War, Congress readmitted the southern states under a key condition: don't expand felony disenfranchisement. But the states quickly violated their promise & weaponized criminal statutes to skew elections. It finally caught up with one of them this year. Fascinating read:
boltsmag.org
A Voting Rights Promise, Betrayed for 156 Years - Bolts
After the Civil War, Congress readmitted Southern states on the condition they not expand felony disenfranchisement—but they quickly ignored the restriction. It has finally caught up with one state, w...
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Marya @maryapetry.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Must read.
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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
This piece is well worth your time.
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David H. Gans @davidhgans.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
My latest @slate.com on the Roberts' Court's war on the Second Founding. As we learned in case after case this term, in the Roberts Court, even the most foundational guarantees inscribed in the Reconstruction Amendments remain insecure: slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
John Roberts’ Court Will Be Known for Leading America Backward
There is one loud lesson to be found in this term’s rulings.
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Reposted by David H. Gans
CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
The Roberts Court has limited the rights of the American people. Learn more from @elizabethwydra.bsky.social: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB-p...
youtube.com
Domicile Isn't a Real Argument For Citizenship Says Wydra
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
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Rick Hasen @rickhasen.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
#ELB: “Ruling Away From America’s Second Founding” electionlawblog.org/?p=157163
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Hammer and Hope @hammerandhope.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
"The Declaration’s significance extends far beyond the aims of the American Revolution or an expression of American nationalism," writes Robin D.G. Kelley in Issue No. 11. hammerandhope.org/article/robi...
hammerandhope.org
“Do You Understand Your Own Language?”
Black radicals read the Declaration of Independence.
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David H. Gans @davidhgans.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
My latest @slate.com on the Roberts' Court's war on the Second Founding. As we learned in case after case this term, in the Roberts Court, even the most foundational guarantees inscribed in the Reconstruction Amendments remain insecure: slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com
John Roberts’ Court Will Be Known for Leading America Backward
There is one loud lesson to be found in this term’s rulings.
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Brianne Gorod @briannegorod.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
We're hiring! If you are (or will be soon) a recent law school grad who's interested in starting your career by doing really interesting #SCOTUS & appellate advocacy in support of progressive causes, apply now for our Douglas T. Kendall Fellowship!
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CAC @myconstitution.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
The Roberts Court is destroying the voting power of marginalized communities while making it easier for the rich and powerful to influence elections. Learn more from @elizabethwydra.bsky.social: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB-p...
youtube.com
Domicile Isn't a Real Argument For Citizenship Says Wydra
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
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Colored Conventions Project @ccp-org.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
“We claim, then, as citizens of this State, the laws of the Commonwealth shall give to all men equal protection; that each and every man may appeal to the law for his equal rights without regard to the color of his skin” +
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Christina Proenza-Coles @proenzacoles.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
James Forten heard the 1st public reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776; he participated in the American Revolution & fought for its ideals long after the war. A skilled entrepreneur & ardent abolitionist, his wife & daughters founded the 1st interracial antislavery society for women.
Watercolor portrait of James Forten in profile wearing coat & tie painted around 1818. Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
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Colored Conventions Project @ccp-org.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
What to the Colored Conventions was the Declaration of Independence? Normally we hear Frederick Douglass on the 4th of July. This year, we are trying something new. From now until Monday night, we are posting quotes every half hour from the Colored Conventions movement. coloredconventions.org
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Mathias Hong @hongmathias.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Allison Brownell Tirres on David Gans, Forgotten Framers, as "a compelling portrait of Black constitutionalism" "Delegates ... embraced not just negative rights ... but also positive obligations... And they did not subscribe to a purely “color-blind” idea of the Constitution ...". 1/5
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Pat Sobkowski @patsobkowski.com · 01/07/2026
Right-wingers are waging war on Reconstruction. Yesterday’s decision in Trump v. Barbara was a narrow 5-4 victory, but the reactionaries are not going to stop. Shame on some people for serving as foot soldiers for MAGA. My essay for @liberalcurrents.com: www.liberalcurrents.com/the-war-on-r...
liberalcurrents.com
The War on Reconstruction
The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling on birthright citizenship is just one battle in the right's larger war on the Second Founding.
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Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
The image here borrows its title from Grant's 1868 presidential campaign slogan, "Let us have peace." Here's what Frederick Douglass had to say about that sentiment.
In the language of our greatest soldier, twice honored with the Presidency of the nation, “Let us have peace.” Yes, let us have peace, but let us have liberty, law, and justice first. Let us have the Constitution, with its thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments, fairly interpreted, faithfully executed, and cheerfully obeyed in the fullness of their spirit and the completeness of their letter.
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Christina Proenza-Coles @proenzacoles.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Lemuel Haynes was a Revolutionary War veteran & the 1st Black (mixed-race) man to be ordained as a minister in the US. He argued for universal rights in his 1776 antislavery tract, Liberty Further Extended, challenging the pretense of a nation fighting for its own freedom while denying it to others.
Oil on papier-mâché tray depicting Reverend Lemuel Haynes preaching to a congregation from a pulpit. Made c. 1835 by an unknown artist. Collection of the Rhode Island School of Design.
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