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Congressional Voting in a Partisan Era: A Study of the McKinley Houses and a Comparison to the Modern House of Representatives
Congressional Voting in a Partisan Era A Study of the McKinley Houses and a Comparison to the Modern House of Representatives Author:David W. Brady American politics around the turn of the twentieth century were in a maelstrom. The nation was undergoing a fundamental change of direction from an agricultural to an industrial society, and the transition created an intense polarization of political opinions. The presidential election of 1896 has been viewed as a benchmark in the development of... more » the American political system. Never again was an American election to be decided in such a partisan-sectional fashion. Both the forces giving rise to the 1896 election results and the after-effects of the subsequent realignment of the American political system have been widely studied, but until now there has been no in-depth examination of congressional politics in the 1896-1900 period. David Brady is the first political scientist to analyze the party vote and the factors accounting for the pervasiveness of party influence in the Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth U.S. House of Representatives. In addition to examining the influence of stress and the impact of constituency on congressional voting, the author shows the influence of the neglected variable of centralized party leadership. He also presents a vivid contrast between the House of Representatives at the turn of the century and the modern House. Brady applies new methodology and current research findings to his study. Throughout the book he balances quantitative techniques with more traditional approaches, and he relates his findings to other important studies of legislative behavior. The period covered by this volume is a significant one in the development of the U.S.House of Representatives as an institution, and in the growth of the national political system as a whole. This book will be useful to students of legislative behavior and to all historians concerned with late nineteenth-century American politics.« less