This reference resource combines unique historical analysis, scholarly essays, and primary source documents to explore the evolution of ideas and institutions that have shaped American government and Americans' political behavior. One of the most active and revealing approaches to research into the American political system is one that focuses on political development, an approach that combines the tools of the political scientist and the historian. A History of the U.S. Political System: Ideas, Interests, and Institutions is the first comprehensive resource that uses this approach to explore the evolution of the American political system from the adoption of the Constitution to the present. A History of the U.S. Political System is a three-volume collection of original essays and primary documents that examines the ideas, institutions, and policies that have shaped American government and politics throughout its history. The first volume is issues-oriented, covering governmental and nongovernmental institutions as well as key policy areas. The second volume examines America's political development historically, surveying its dynamic government era by era. Volume three is a collection of documentary materials that supplement and enhance the reader's experience with the other volumes.
A comprehensive and authoritative encyclopedia of U.S. political history An essential resource for anyone interested in U.S. history and politics, this two-volume encyclopedia covers the major forces that have shaped American politics from the founding to today. Broad in scope, the book addresses both the traditional topics of political history—such as eras, institutions, political parties, presidents, and founding documents—and the wider subjects of current scholarship, including military, electoral, and economic events, as well as social movements, popular culture, religion, education, race, gender, and more. Each article, specially commissioned for this book, goes beyond basic facts to provide readers with crucial context, expert analysis, and informed perspectives on the evolution of American politics. Written by more than 170 leading historians and social scientists, The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History gives students, scholars, and researchers authoritative introductions to the subject's most important topics and a first step to further research. Features nearly 190 entries, organized alphabetically and written by a distinguished team of scholars, including Dean Baker, Lewis L. Gould, Alexander Keyssar, James T. Kloppenberg, Patricia Nelson Limerick, Lisa McGirr, Mark A. Noll, Jack N. Rakove, Nick Salvatore, Stephen Skowronek, Jeremi Suri, and Julian E. Zelizer Describes key political periods and eras, from the founding to the present day Traces the history of political institutions, parties, and founding documents Explains ideas, philosophies, and movements that shaped American politics Presents the political history and influence of geographic regions Describes the roles of ethnic, racial, and religious groups in the political process Explores the influence of mass culture, from political cartoons to the Internet Examines recurring issues that shape political campaigns and policy, from class, gender, and race to crime, education, taxation, voting, welfare, and much more Includes bibliographies, cross-references, appendixes, a comprehensive index, and more than 50 illustrations and maps
Everything is new in this second version of AEI's all-time bestseller, which brings coverage of the vital trends in American political life up to the present.
Unparalleled coverage of U.S. political development through a unique chronological framework Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History explores the events, policies, activities, institutions, groups, people, and movements that have created and shaped political life in the United States. With contributions from scholars in the fields of history and political science, this seven-volume set provides students, researchers, and scholars the opportunity to examine the political evolution of the United States from the 1500s to the present day. With greater coverage than any other resource, the Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History identifies and illuminates patterns and interrelations that will expand the reader’s understanding of American political institutions, culture, behavior, and change. Focusing on both government and history, the Encyclopedia brings exceptional breadth and depth to the topic with more than 100 essays for each of the critical time periods covered. With each volume covering one of seven time periods that correspond to key eras in American history, the essays and articles in this authoritative encyclopedia focus on the following themes of political history: The three branches of government Elections and political parties Legal and constitutional histories Political movements and philosophies, and key political figures Economics Military politics International relations, treaties, and alliances Regional histories Key Features Organized chronologically by political eras Reader’s guide for easy-topic searching across volumes Maps, photographs, and tables enhance the text Signed entries by a stellar group of contributors VOLUME 1 ?Colonial Beginnings through Revolution ?1500–1783 ?Volume Editor: Andrew Robertson, Herbert H. Lehman College ?The colonial period witnessed the transformation of thirteen distinct colonies into an independent federated republic. This volume discusses the diversity of the colonial political experience—a diversity that modern scholars have found defies easy synthesis—as well as the long-term conflicts, policies, and events that led to revolution, and the ideas underlying independence. VOLUME 2 ?The Early Republic ?1784–1840 ?Volume Editor: Michael A. Morrison, Purdue University No period in the history of the United States was more critical to the foundation and shaping of American politics than the early American republic. This volume discusses the era of Confederation, the shaping of the U.S. Constitution, and the development of the party system. VOLUME 3 ?Expansion, Division, and Reconstruction ?1841–1877 ?Volume Editor: William Shade, Lehigh University (emeritus) ?This volume examines three decades in the middle of the nineteenth century, which witnessed: the emergence of the debate over slavery in the territories, which eventually led to the Civil War; the military conflict itself from 1861 until 1865; and the process of Reconstruction, which ended with the readmission of all of the former Confederate States to the Union and the "withdrawal" of the last occupying federal troops from those states in 1877. VOLUME 4 ?From the Gilded Age through the Age of Reform ?1878–1920 ?Volume Editor: Robert Johnston, University of Illinois at Chicago With the withdrawal of federal soldiers from Southern states the previous year, 1878 marked a new focus in American politics, and it became recognizably modern within the next 40 years. This volume focuses on race and politics; economics, labor, and capitalism; agrarian politics and populism; national politics; progressivism; foreign affairs; World War I; and the end of the progressive era. VOLUME 5 ?Prosperity, Depression, and War ?1921–1945 ?Volume Editor: Robert Zieger, University of Florida Between 1921 and 1945, the U.S. political system exhibited significant patterns of both continuity and change in a turbulent time marked by racist conflicts, the Great Depression, and World War II. The main topics covered in this volume are declining party identification; the "Roosevelt Coalition"; evolving party organization; congressional inertia in the 1920s; the New Deal; Congress during World War II; the growth of the federal government; Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency; the Supreme Court’s conservative traditions; and a new judicial outlook. VOLUME 6 ?Postwar Consensus to Social Unrest ?1946–1975 ?Volume Editor: Thomas Langston, Tulane University This volume examines the postwar era with the consolidation of the New Deal, the onset of the Cold War, and the Korean War. It then moves into the 1950s and early 1960s, and discusses the Vietnam war; the era of John F. Kennedy; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the Civil Rights Act; Martin Luther King and the Voting Rights Act; antiwar movements; The War Powers Act; environmental policy; the Equal Rights Amendment; Roe v. Wade; Watergate; and the end of the Vietnam War. VOLUME 7 ?The Clash of Conservatism and Liberalism ?1976 to present ?Volume Editor: Richard Valelly, Swarthmore College ?The troubled Carter Administration, 1977–1980, proved to be the political gateway for the resurgence of a more ideologically conservative Republican party led by a popular president, Ronald Reagan. The last volume of the Encyclopedia covers politics and national institutions in a polarized era of nationally competitive party politics and programmatic debates about taxes, social policy, and the size of national government. It also considers the mixed blessing of the change in superpower international competition associated with the end of the Cold War. Stateless terrorism (symbolized by the 9/11 attacks), the continuing American tradition of civil liberties, and the broad change in social diversity wrought by immigration and the impact in this period of the rights revolutions are also covered.
American political and policy history has revived since the turn of the twenty-first century. After social and cultural history emerged as dominant forces to reveal the importance of class, race, and gender within the United States, the application of this line of work to American politics and policy followed. In addition, social movements, particularly the civil rights and feminism, helped rekindle political and policy history. As a result, a new generation of historians turned their attention to American politics. Their new approach still covers traditional subjects, but more often it combines an interest in the state, politics, and policy with other specialties (urban, labor, social, and race, among others) within the history and social science disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of American Political History incorporates and reflects this renaissance of American political history. It not only provides a chronological framework but also illustrates fundamental political themes and debates about public policy, including party systems, women in politics, political advertising, religion, and more. Chapters on economy, defense, agriculture, immigration, transportation, communication, environment, social welfare, health care, drugs and alcohol, education, and civil rights trace the development and shifts in American policy history. This collection of essays by 29 distinguished scholars offers a comprehensive overview of American politics and policy.
This three-volume set explores the multiple roles that parties and interest groups have played in American politics from the nation's beginnings to the present. This set serves as an essential resource for analyzing the emergence and impact of parties and interest groups in the American political system and for understanding the systematic and structural bases for interest group and party behavior. Volume One opens with an introduction by the editors that provides a general overview of the eras and identifies important themes and events, laying a foundation on which the subsequent essays and primary documents for each interest group or political party builds. Narrative essays focus on how specific parties or interest groups have shaped or reflect a particular set of events or general themes in each of the eras in American political history. Topical entries reflect key themes developed throughout the volumes. Entries range from important founding groups and parties to contemporary political action committees and policy advocacy groups. The set also includes primary source documents (e.g., letters, platform documents, court decisions, flyers, etc.) that reveal important dimensions of the corresponding group's political influence.
