Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics

Woodrow Wilson's classic 1885 study of U.S. government and its management through Congress, committees, and cabinet-members, including a comparison to strong parliamentary systems in France and, especially, England. Features new Foreword by Steven Alan Childress, J.D., Ph.D., a law professor at Tulane, as well as the detailed introductory analysis that Walter Lippmann wrote for later editions. 'Congressional Government' was originally Wilson's dissertation written for the Ph.D. degree, and his first book. In it, he analyzes the difficulties arising from the separation of the legislative and executive powers in the U.S. Constitution, during an era in which - as seen clearly on hindsight - the country was experiencing an atypical series of weak executives. Many of the observations proved ironic in light of his own later presidency. The book is considered to be an excellent work of political and constitutional scholarship. It is still widely read today and assigned in courses on politics and history. Wilson was destined to be professor and president of Princeton, Governor of New Jersey, President of the U.S., and the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. ~ On proposing changes to the system of government: "The Constitution is not honored by blind worship." ~ ~ On the Vice-President: "His chief dignity, next to presiding over the Senate, lies in the circumstance that he is awaiting the death or disability of the President. And the chief embarrassment in discussing his office is, that in explaining how little there is to be said about it one has evidently said all there is to say." ~