The Second Republic

The Federalist Papers and Institutional Power in American Political Development

“…Given the urgency and rapidity with which the papers were written, the authors managed to publish them in a highly organized fashion. In logical order the papers cover the importance of union (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14), the defects of the Articles of Confederation (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22), justifications for the general powers of the proposed government (23-36), explication of the republican form of government, including federalism and the separation of powers (37-51), the legislative branch (52-66), the executive (66-77), the judiciary (78-83), and miscellaneous items and conclusions (84)(85). Nevertheless, amid the withering detail that ranges across history, contemporaneous comparisons, and human psychology, and seems to leave no argument unexplored, it is easy to lose the forest for the trees.…”

“…By reducing or solving the collective action problems of a divided Congress with differently constituted halves, parties enhanced congressional power, not just through policy coordination but also by recruiting and coordinating the election of ambitious politicians at a time when the incentives to spend significant time in national office were not so evident. 6 With parties the election of the Speaker of the House was less a constitutional obligation to select the one formal position named in the Constitution than a manifestation of which party was in control of the chamber.…”

“…5 Moreover, much of the recent work that is focused on a single institution uses a nontraditional and wider lens by getting away from the purely intrainstitutional approach to Congress, the law-centered analysis of the Court, or the individualistic bent of presidential studies. 6 Even so, one can argue still that the "complexity of the American political system warrants greater attention to the interaction between institutions and an appreciation for the complex characteristics of the American political system as a whole, in addition to the accumulation of knowledge about its institutional components. " 7 Mine is not an argument against the study of the individual institutions.…”

“…Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2000 114-17 APD (American Political Development), 45-8 checks and balances, 24 connecting sources of institutional change to, 48-54 definition of, 6 Federalist theory of, 2-5, 8, 10-13, 14n4, 19, 35-8, 46, 96, 114-15 judiciary, 29, 77-9, 81 president, 11, 54, 61, 66-7, 75, 115-16 constituency, 31, 69-70, 75-7, 90, 92, 94-5 democratizing the, 75-7 domestic and foreign policy, 70-2 length of term and re-eligibility, 31 organization, [89][90][91][92][93][94][95][2][3][4][5][6][10][11]19,37,50,[69][70][71][72]112n25,110 selection/election of,11,31,32,60,75,83 staff,60,75,90,94 strengths and weaknesses,33 unitary,4,28,33,60,73,83,94 veto,22,24,26,28,33,…”