Travel back to a time when:ÊA bad practical joke resulted in whippings. Laws that govern everyone are sent from a country far across the ocean. Step into the lives of the colonists, and get the real story of government and politics in Colonial America.

When historians take the long view, they look at "ages" or "eras" (the Age of Jackson, the Progressive Era). But these time spans last no longer than a decade or so. In this groundbreaking new book, Morton Keller divides our nation's history into three regimes, each of which lasts many, many decades, allowing us to appreciate, as never before, the slow steady evolution of American public life. Americans like to think of our society as eternally young and effervescent. But the reality is very different. A proper history of America must be as much about continuity, persistence, and evolution as about transformation and revolution. To provide this proper history, Keller groups America's past into three long regimes--Deferential and Republican, from the colonial period to the 1820s; Party and Democratic, from the 1830s to the 1930s; and Populist and Bureaucratic, from the 1930s to the present. This approach yields many new insights. We discover, for instance, that the history of colonial America, the Revolution, and the Early Republic is a more unified story than usually assumed. The Civil War, industrialization, and the Progressive era did relatively little to alter the character of the democratic-party regime that lasted from the 1830s to the 1930s. And the populist-bureaucratic regime in which we live today has seen changes in politics, government, and law as profound as those that occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. As Keller underscores the sheer staying power of America's public institutions, he sheds light on current concerns as well: in particular, will the current political polarization continue or will more moderate forces prevail. Here then is a major contribution to United States history--an entirely new way to look at our past, our present, and our future--packed with provocative and original observations about American public life.

Excerpt from History of American Politics (Non-Partisan): Embracing a History of the Federal Government and of Political Parties in the Colonies and United States From 1607 to the Present The political history of the United States has received less attention than any other important portion of the history of our country, notwithstanding the fact that there is no other subject which meets with such general consideration as politics. The object of this work is to present a complete History of American Politics, giving the subject ample consideration, yet avoiding those details that consume the time of the reader without adding materially to his historical information. The plan of the work is designed to simplify the story of our political history, thus making clear and intelligent what is otherwise, to a large proportion of our citizens, a great mass of documents too extensive for perusal. Chapter I. treats of local colonial politics, and closes with a plate that represents mechanically the nature of colonial governments in their individual capacity. Chapter II. sets forth the difference between the colonists and the parent country on national colonial politics, and presents those issues that ultimately drove the Americans into the war of independence. This chapter allowed by a plate that exhibits to the eye the leading features of the British government, and represents how, according to the English colonial system, the colonies were under the supreme power of Parliament. Chapter III. presents revolutionary politics, and is accompanied by a plate which shows the sovereign and independent condition of the thirteen colonies, and their lack of cooperation with the Continental Congress by any binding law. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In Local Government in Early America, Brian P. Janiskee examines the origins of the "town hall meeting" and other iconic political institutions, whose origins lie in our colonial heritage. This work offers an overview of the structure of local politics in the colonial era, a detailed examination of the thoughts of key founders--such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson--on local politics, and some thoughts on the continued role of local institutions as vital elements of the American political system.

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