From Liberty to Democracy: The Transformation of American Government

Front Cover
University of Michigan Press, 2002 - 336 pages
At the nation's founding, the fundamental principle underlying American government was liberty, and the nation's new government was designed to protect the rights of individuals. The American founders intended to design a government that would protect the rights of its citizens, and at that time the most serious threat to people's rights was government. Thus, the United States government was designed with a constitutionally limited scope to preserve the rights of individuals and limit the powers of government.
The government's activities during two world wars and the Great Depression greatly increased its involvement in people's economic affairs, and by the time of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the transformation was complete. By the end of the twentieth century, the fundamental principle underlying American government had been transformed to democracy, and public policy was designed to further the will of the majority. The result has been a government that is larger and broader in scope.
From Liberty to Democracy examines American political history using the framework of public choice theory to show how American government grew more democratic, and how this resulted in an increase in the size and scope of government. It should appeal to historians, political scientists, and economists who are interested in the evolution of American government but does not assume any specialized training and can be read by anyone interested in American political history.
Randall G. Holcombe is DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics, Florida State University

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Contents

The Revolutionary Cause
1
2 Liberty and Democracy as Economic Systems
17
Politics in EighteenthCentury America
37
The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States
59
5 The Growth of Parties and Interests before the War between the States
82
6 The Impact of the War between the States
115
18701915
138
8 Populism and Progressivism
161
9 The Growth of the Federal Government in the 1920s
187
10 The New Deal and World War II
210
The Great Society
232
12 The Dangers of Democracy
250
Notes
277
References
313
Index
329
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About the author (2002)

Randall G. Holcombe is DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics, Florida State University. He is also the chairman of the Research Advisory Council of the James Madison Institute for Public Policy Studies, a Tallahassee-based think tank that specializes in issues facing state governments. Through the James Madison Institute, Professor Holcombe has written numerous articles and reports on Florida's growth management program and its impact on economic development in the State of Florida. He is the author of nine books and more than a hundred articles and reviews published in academic and professional journals. His primary areas of research are public finance and the economic analysis of public policy issues.

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