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Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics
The government of the United States is a living system. As such, it is subject to subtle change and modification over time, but still maintains a constancy via its central nervous system-a congressional form of rule. Woodrow Wilson saw congressional government as "Committee" government. It is administered by semi-independent executive agents who obey the dictates of a legislature, though the agents themselves are not of ultimate authority or accountability. Written by Wilson when he was a twenty-eight-year-old graduate student, this is an astounding examination of the American legislative branches, especially in light of the fact that Wilson had not yet even visited Congress at the time of its composition.
Wilson divides Congressional Government into six parts. In part one, his introductory statement, Wilson analyzes the need for a federal Constitution and asks whether or not it is still a document that should be unquestioningly venerated. In part two, Wilson describes the make-up and functions of the House of Representatives in painstaking detail. Part three is concerned with taxation and financial administration by the government and its resulting economic repercussions. Part four is an explanation of the Senate's role in the legislative process. The electoral system and responsibilities of the president are the central concerns of part five. And Wilson concludes, in part six, with a both philosophical and practical summarization of the congressional form of the United States government, in which he also compares it to European modes of state governance.
In a new introduction specially prepared for this edition, William F. Connelly, Jr. compares Wilson, as a professional politician, to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He notes that Wilson's ideas, which have had a lasting influence, helped form Gingrich's outlook on the role of the Constitution and the executive branch in the legislative process. He also investigates Wilson's criticism of Madison's separation of powers. Congressional Government is a document of continuing relevance, and will be essential for those interested in politics and American history.
Wilson divides Congressional Government into six parts. In part one, his introductory statement, Wilson analyzes the need for a federal Constitution and asks whether or not it is still a document that should be unquestioningly venerated. In part two, Wilson describes the make-up and functions of the House of Representatives in painstaking detail. Part three is concerned with taxation and financial administration by the government and its resulting economic repercussions. Part four is an explanation of the Senate's role in the legislative process. The electoral system and responsibilities of the president are the central concerns of part five. And Wilson concludes, in part six, with a both philosophical and practical summarization of the congressional form of the United States government, in which he also compares it to European modes of state governance.
In a new introduction specially prepared for this edition, William F. Connelly, Jr. compares Wilson, as a professional politician, to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He notes that Wilson's ideas, which have had a lasting influence, helped form Gingrich's outlook on the role of the Constitution and the executive branch in the legislative process. He also investigates Wilson's criticism of Madison's separation of powers. Congressional Government is a document of continuing relevance, and will be essential for those interested in politics and American history.
410 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1981
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Woodrow Wilson
1,095Ìýbooks63ÌýfollowersThomas Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. A devout Presbyterian and leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University and then became the Governor of New Jersey in 1910. With Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft dividing the Republican Party vote, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. He proved highly successful in leading a Democratic Congress to pass major legislation that included the Federal Trade Commission, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Underwood Tariff, the Federal Farm Loan Act and most notably the Federal Reserve System. Wilson was a proponent of segregation during his presidency.
Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when the German Empire began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany, and eventually asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war and hastened Allied victory in 1918.
In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Largely for his efforts to form the League, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Versailles Treaty. The League of Nations was established anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, calling for the U.S. to enter the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century.
Narrowly re-elected in 1916, his second term centered on World War I. He tried to maintain U.S. neutrality, but when the German Empire began unrestricted submarine warfare he wrote several admonishing notes to Germany, and eventually asked Congress to declare war on the Central Powers. He focused on diplomacy and financial considerations, leaving the waging of the war primarily in the hands of the military establishment. On the home front he began the first effective draft in 1917, raised billions through Liberty loans, imposed an income tax, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements. He paid surprisingly little attention to military affairs, but provided the funding and food supplies that helped the Americans in the war and hastened Allied victory in 1918.
In the late stages of the war he took personal control of negotiations with Germany, especially with the Fourteen Points and the armistice. He went to Paris in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, with special attention on creating new nations out of defunct empires. Largely for his efforts to form the League, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919. Wilson collapsed with a debilitating stroke in 1919, as the home front saw massive strikes and race riots, and wartime prosperity turn into postwar depression. He refused to compromise with the Republicans who controlled Congress after 1918, effectively destroying any chance for ratification of the Versailles Treaty. The League of Nations was established anyway, but the U.S. never joined. Wilson's idealistic internationalism, calling for the U.S. to enter the world arena to fight for democracy, progressiveness, and liberalism, has been a highly controversial position in American foreign policy, serving as a model for "idealists" to emulate or "realists" to reject for the following century.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 7, 2011
Woodrow Wilson was not just a political official--the Governor of New Jersey anmd President of the United States. He was also an influential academic in the discipline of political science (and public administration). This is his classic work on the nature of Congressional government in the United States. This book and some of his essays weer influential in their day. Indeed, the ideas expressed in, for instance, this volume, helped guide some of his thinking as president.
June 2, 2021
Impressive & yes sometimes hard to read. It is great insight into how Congress worked at the time it was written. This shows in many ways the changes that are today on full display. This is the 1st book from Woodrow Wilson that I have read & will not be the last. If you are looking for early views of American Government this is a solid place to start in my opinion.
January 17, 2018
While an important insight in American political thought, it was not easy to get through.
December 25, 2024
They can never make me like you Woodrow Wilson
April 26, 2012
Woodrow Wilson, 25 year old Graduate student at Princeton, began a critique of US Government in the 1880's, which culminated in the book. He is one of the great originators of what we know now as the "Administative State". He forcasts the necessity to increase the power of the Presidency. Predicts the aggregation of national political power away from the states and toward the central government. Compares US government practiced in post-Civil War America, with the Parliamentary Governmnet of Great Britain, then at the height of it's power; prefers the accountibility and party discipline of the British. His criticism of a lack of party accountability, a principle weaknesses of the House of Represenatives, can be used as campaign rhetoric today. Famous for the line thst the president is the mere "...clerk of the Congress", a condition that He and Teddy Roosevelt would historically alter at the begining of the 20th century. A tome that is serverely dated and reads like a political speech; but would have been a useful read for the only other college professor elected to the White house, Barack Obama.
Major irony: Wilson directly attacks the power of the permanent Standing Committees and the power of their chairman to set national policy. He also compliments the work of Henry Cabot Lodge, the leading academic-politician, before Wilson's own rise in politics. Lodge, as a Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would defeat Wilson's greatest political project, the League of Nations, with the same parlimentary tactics that Wilson condemned 34 years before (1919).
Major irony: Wilson directly attacks the power of the permanent Standing Committees and the power of their chairman to set national policy. He also compliments the work of Henry Cabot Lodge, the leading academic-politician, before Wilson's own rise in politics. Lodge, as a Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would defeat Wilson's greatest political project, the League of Nations, with the same parlimentary tactics that Wilson condemned 34 years before (1919).
January 27, 2011
An interesting read concerning how Congress actually worked in the late 19th Century. Still somewhat relevant today, especially for someone not familiar with the committee system.
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