Constitutional Government in the United States

Woodrow Wilson

New York : Columbia University Press, 1908

Bound in publisher's cloth. Hardcover. No dust jacket. Underlining. A progressive era critique of American constitutional government by the future American President. Contents:What is constitutional government; The place of the United States in constitutional development; The President of the United States; The House of Representatives; The Senate; The courts; The states and the federal government; Party government in the United States. 

Constitutional Government in the United States is a criticism of the American founding fathers produced during the Progressive Era. Wilson's interpretation of the Constitution shaped the thought of scholars and students of American politics. His definition of constitutional government and the place of the United States in the development of constitutional theory continues to shape discourse today. Wilson discusses the three branches of government in the United States, the relation between the states and the federal government, and party government in a manner quite distinct from the founding fathers." "Constitutional Government has its origins in a series of lectures Wilson delivered at Columbia University in 1907. It is carefully organized around three separate but mutually supporting arguments. First is the idea that constitutional government evolves historically from primitive beginnings of the state toward a universal and ideal form. Second, this idea of historical evolution contains within it an analysis of how and where the Constitution fits into the evolutionary process as a whole. Third, the historical thesis itself provides a prescription for bringing American government, and with it the Constitution, into accord with his first principle of the ideal form of modern government."  - Sidney A. Pearson