Output list
Book
America Transformed: The Rise and Legacy of American Progressivism
Published 05/12/2023
The America of the modern administrative state is not the America of the original Constitution. This transformation comes not only from the ordinary course of historical change and development, but also from a radical, new philosophy of government that was imported into the American political tradition by the Progressives of the late nineteenth century. The new thinking about the principles of governmentand open hostility to the American Constitutionled to a host of concrete changes in American political institutions. Our government today reflects these original Progressive innovations, even if they are often unrecognized as such because they have become ingrained in American political culture. This book shows the nature of these changes, both in principles and in the nuts and bolts of governing. It also shows how progressivism was often at the root of critical developments subsequent to the Progressive Era in more recent American political historyhow it was different than the New Deal, the liberalism of the 1960s, and todays liberalism, but also how these subsequent developments could not have transpired without the ground laid by the original Progressives.
Book
Constitutionalism in the Approach and Aftermath of the Civil War
Published 2022
The irreducibly constitutional nature of the Civil War's prelude and legacy is the focus of this absorbing collection of nine essays by a diversity of political theorists and historians. The contributors examine key constitutional developments leading up to the war, the crucial role of Abraham Lincoln's statesmanship, and how the constitutional aspects of the war and Reconstruction endured in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This thoughtful, informative volume covers a wide range of topics: from George Washington's conception of the Union and his fears for its future to Martin Van Buren's state-centered, anti-secessionist federalism; from Lincoln's approach to citizenship for African Americans to Woodrow Wilson's attempt to appropriate Lincoln for the goals of Progressivism. Each essay zeroes in on the constitutional causes or consequences of the war and emphasizes how constitutional principles shape political activity. Accordingly, important figures, disputes, and judicial decisions are placed within the broader context of the constitutional system to explain how ideas and institutions, independently and in dialogue with the courts, have oriented political action and shaped events over time.
Book
America transformed: the rise and legacy of American progressivism
Published 2021
"The America of the modern administrative state is not the America of the original Constitution. This transformation comes not only from the ordinary course of historical change and development, but also from a radical, new philosophy of government that was imported into the American political tradition by the Progressives of the late nineteenth century. The new thinking about the principles of government - and open hostility to the American Constitution - led to a host of concrete changes that Progressives proposed, and on occasion consummated, for American political institutions. Government today reflects these original Progressive innovations, even if they are often unrecognized as such because they have become ingrained for so long in American political culture. This book shows the nature of these changes - both in principles and in the nuts and bolts of governing; it also shows how progressivism was at least at the root of critical developments subsequent to the Progressive Era in recent American political history - how it was different than the New Deal, the liberalism of the 1960s, and today's liberalism, but also how these subsequent developments could not have transpired without the ground laid by the original Progressives"--
Book
Published 2011
Book
American progressivism: a reader
Published 2008
This collection of writings by prominent politicians, authors, and activists of the Progressive Era explores Progressivism's role in the development of American political thought. Pestritto and Atto provide insight into each figure's influence on Progressive Era American politics by introducing each entry with the context within which the author of a given selection is writing.
Book
The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government
Published 20/11/2007
The ideas that gave rise to what is today called "the administrative state" are fundamentally at odds with those that gave rise to the US Constitution. The original, Progressive-Era architects of the administrative state understood this quite clearly, as they made advocacy of this new approach to government an important part of their direct, open, comprehensive attack on the American Constitution.
Book
Published 2007
Book
Modern America and the legacy of the founding
Published 2007
The authors of this book address how the fundamental tensions between modern liberalism and the ideas of the founders have played out in the context of contemporary thought and practice in American politics.
Book
Modern America and the Legacy of Founding
Published 2006
The authors of this book address how the fundamental tensions between modern liberalism and the ideas of the founders have played out in the context of contemporary thought and practice in American politics.
Book
Woodrow Wilson: the essential political writings
Published 2005
Woodrow Wilson's contribution to American foreign policy is well known, but his role in the development of American political thought and institutions is less recognized. In this volume, Ronald J. Pestritto, a scholar of Wilson and of American political thought, presents and introduces the statesman and president's seminal essays on such topics as a theory of the state; the idea of political liberty and the purpose of government; reforming Congress, the presidency, and political parties; and leadership in politics and administration. This volume shows us the development of a great American lea