Congressional Dynamics: Structure, Coordination, and Choice in the First American Congress, 1774-1789In 1774 delegates from 12 English colonies in North America assembled in congress. This assemblage laid the foundation for the first national political body in the United States. The basic institutional identity of the Continental Congress never changed over its 15 year history. Nonetheless, perceived deficiencies in its structure and performance helped forge the Federal system founded in 1789. This book focuses on the origins, evolution, and demise of the Continental Congress, reinterpreting its successes and failures from the perspective of the new institutionalism. The authors analyze the behavioural record of the delegates - their votes, voting coalitions, work load, committee assignments - and conclude that norms, rules, and structures were as much to blame for the Congress's failure as the 12 represented states reluctance to support and finance it. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Precedents and Early Choices | 15 |
The Origins and Organization of | 43 |
Institutional Development | 69 |
Evolution of the Committee System in | 91 |
Constraints on Cooperative Floor Behavior in | 132 |
Regional Variations and the Pattern of Politics in | 167 |
The Radical Coalition and Factional Politics in | 195 |
Common terms and phrases
absent Adams adopted agenda amendment Articles of Confederation assemblies ballot Board Burnett chair coalitions collective choice colonies committees appointed congressional Conn Connecticut conservatives Continental Congress coordinate debate decision Delaware Delegate preference map discussion distribution of delegates Duane early elected England faction Figure floor procedures Georgia gress half pay Hampshire Henderson 1974 Henry Laurens hoc committees House individual institutional interests issues James James Duane Jersey John Journals Laurens leaders leadership legislative legislatures Letters load Madison majority Maryland Massachusetts Middle Atlantic mittees motion nationalists Nonetheless North outcomes Parliament Pennsylvania percent political position president problems question radicals Rakove regional resolution resolved Rhode Island Richard Henry Lee Robert Morris roll-call votes rules Samuel Schuyler Second dimension 2.0 Silas Deane Smith South Carolina southern delegates Speaker Stamp Act Congress standing committees structure Thomas tion unanimity Vectors for votes Virginia vote number William York