Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-303) and index.
Contents:
The modern regulatory state -- State autonomy in democratic societies -- Civil War finance and the American state -- George Pendleton and mass opinion -- The election of 1868 -- The crime of 1873 -- Discretion and the Treasury Department -- The Ohio gubernatorial election of 1875 -- The Compromise of 1877 and railroad regulation -- Charles Francis Adams Jr. and bureaucracy -- Free silver and the Democratic Party -- The conservative origins of the American regulatory state -- Conclusion : state autonomy in democratic societies.
Summary:
"Political scientist Samuel DeCanio examines how political elites used high levels of voter ignorance to create a new type of regulatory state with lasting implications for American politics. Focusing on the expansion of bureaucratic authority in late-nineteenth-century America, DeCanio's exhaustive archival research examines electoral politics, the Treasury Department's control over monetary policy, and the Interstate Commerce Commission's regulation of railroads to examine how conservative politicians created a new type of bureaucratic state to insulate policy decisions from popular control"--Back cover.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.