JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
Political Science 190.389
Fall, 2010
Seminar on the Emergence of the Modern Congress and Presidency
Professor Joseph Cooper
I. Introduction
A. The purpose of the seminar is to trace the institutional development of the
Congress and presidency since the Civil War. The seminar assumes that understanding of
the roles of the modern President and Congress is greatly enhanced by historical
perspective and that such perspective requires attention to change in their relative position
and power in all three of the main arenas of political decision making at the national level--the electoral system, the legislative system, and the administrative system.
B. Seminar participants are required to take responsibility for making a presentation
of at least 20 minutes that assesses one week of the readings. You will be asked to choose
the week and to submit a 7-8 page paper on the readings in the week you choose. In
addition, each seminar participant will have the option of taking a final exam or submitting
a final paper on the order of 15-18 pages. All topics need to be approved and a
bibliography of at least 5 items not on the reading list submitted no later than October 7. I
will discuss the character of the exam in class.
C. Grading will be based on class participation, the weekly papers submitted, and
the exam or paper. Participation is very important both for the success of the seminar and to
indicate that you are doing the reading. I will feel free to ask questions of students, whether
you volunteer or not. Class performance including the short paper submitted will count
50% and the final paper or exam 50%.
D. My email is jcooper@jhu.edu. My office hours are after class on Tuesday and
Friday from 1-2:30pm.
E. My policy is not to recommend for purchase books with an assigned reading of
less than 100 pages. In addition, several books that meet this requirement are not in press.
The books recommended for purchase at the bookstore are:
1. Mark Kornbluh, Why America Stopped Voting
2. Stephen Skowronek, Building A New American State
3. Kate Kenzie, Bruce Hardy, and Kathleen Hall Jameson, The Obama Victory
4. Ronald Peters and Cathy Simon Rosenthal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New
American Politics
All other readings are on electronic reserve. These can be accessed on the Library
reserve web site, http://reserves.library.jhu.edu. There is also a print copy of books
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recommended for purchase on regular reserve. Note that access code to reserve readings is
COO389.
II. Reading Assignments
Part One
Congress and President, 1869-1921
A. The Context of Politics and Policy (Sept. 7)
1. Everett C. Ladd, American Political Parties, pp. 109-180.
2. Mark Kornbluh, Why America Stopped Voting, pp. 11-88.
3. Michael McGerr, Decline of Popular Politics, pp. 69-106.
4. Richard Ellis ed., Speaking to the People, pp. 112-133
B. The Electoral System and Political Parties (Sept. 14)
1. Kornbluh, Why America Stopped Voting, pp. 88-161.
2. Harold Gosnell, “Thomas C. Platt—Political Manager”, Political Science
Quarterly 38:443-469 (September, 1923).
3. McGerr, Decline of Popular Politics, pp. 138-184.
4. Sidney Milkis, Theodore Roosevelt and the Transformation of American
Politics, pp. 27-74.
C. President and Congress in the Legislative Process (Sept. 21).
1. Jason Roberts and Steve Smith, “The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Institutions
in the House and Senate, In David Brady and Mathew McCubbins, eds., Party,
Process and Political Change in Congress, Vol.2, pp.182-204 (chapter 13).
2. Joseph Cooper and David Brady, "Institutional Context and
Leadership Style: The House from Cannon to Rayburn”, American
Political Science Review, June, 1981, Vol. 75, pp. 411-425.
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3. David Brady and David Epstein, "Intraparty Preferences, Heterogeneity, and
the Origins of the Modern Senate: Progressive Reformers in the House and
Senate,1890-1920”, Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization , Vol.
13, April, 1997, pp. 26- 50.
4. Daniel Klinghard, “Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and the
Emergence of the President as Party Leader, Presidential Studies
Quarterly, Vol. 35, pp.736-760 (December, 2005).
5. Gary Gregg, The Presidential Republic, pp. 94-102 and Ellis ed.,
Speaking to the People, pp. 162-182
D. President and Congress in the Administrative Process (Sept. 28).
1. Leonard White, The Republican Era, pp. 45-109
2. Stephen Skowronek, Building A New American State, pp. 45-85
165-211, and 248-284.
3. Joseph Bessette and Jeffrey Tulis, The Constitutional Presidency, pp.7696 (Chapter 4).
Part Two
Congress and President, 1921-1971
A. The Context of Politics and Policy (Oct. 5)
1. Ballard Campbell, The Growth of American Government, pp. 83-174.
2. Ladd, American Political Parties, pp. 180-205 (First Part of Chapter 5).
3. Everett C. Ladd and Charles Hadley, Transformations of the American
Party System, pp 195-225 (Last Part of Chapter 4).
4. Theodore Lowi, The Personal President, pp. 44-66.
5. David Mayhew, Placing Parties in American Politics, pp. 308-332.
B. The Electoral System and Political Parties (Oct. 12).
1. Ladd and Hadley, Transformations of the American Party System, pp.
31-75 and 83-87 (Chapter 1).
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2. Ladd, American Political Parties, pp.205-242 (Second Part of Chapter 5)
3. Lowi, The Personal President, pp. 67-134
4. Anthony King, ed., The New American Political System, pp. 249-287
(Chapter 7).
C. Congress and President in the Legislative Process (Oct. 19).
1. James Sundquist, The Decline and Resurgence of Congress, pp. 127-55
2. Nelson Polsby, How Congress Evolves, pp. 3-74.
3. Barbara Sinclair, The Transformation of the U.S. Senate, pp. 8- 101
D. President, Congress, and the Administrative State (Oct. 26).
1. Sundquist, The Decline and Resurgence of Congress,
pp. 37-61 and 91-127.
2. King, ed., New American Political System, pp. 45-125 (Chapters 2 and 3).
3. Richard Harris and Sidney Milkis, eds., Remaking American Politics,
pp.146-187 (Chapter 6)
Part Three
Congress and the President, 1971-2003
A. The Context of Politics and Policy (Nov. 2).
1. John Aldrich, Why Parties, pp. 241-297
2. Nicol Rae, “Be Careful What You Wish For”, Annual Review of
Political Science, Vol. 10, pp. 169-191 (2007)
3. William Flanagan and Nanci Zingale, Political Behavior of the
American Electorate, 12th Edition, pp. 67-171.
4. Ira Katznelson and Helen Miller, eds., Political Science: The
State of the Discipline, pp. 511-541 (Fiorina Selection).
B. The Electoral System and Political Parties (Nov. 9).
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1. Michael Nelson, ed., The Elections of 2008, pp. 22-74.
2. Kate Kenzi et al, The Obama Victory, pp. 13-106 and 265-314
3. Paul Abramson et al, Change and Continuity in the 2008 Elections, pp
284-307.
C. President and Congress in the Legislative Process (Nov. 16).
1. Barbara Sinclair, Party Wars, pp 3-36
2. Ronald Peters and Cindy Rosenthal, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the New
American Politics, pp. 63-193 and 227-252
3. Barbara Sinclair in Lawrence Dodd and Bruce Oppenheimer, eds.,
Congress Reconsidered, 9th edition, pp. 1-23
4. James Thurber, ed., Rivals for Power, 4th edition, pp. 61-81 (Chapter 3).
D. President and Congress in the Administrative System (Nov. 30).
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1. Terry Moe, “The Politicized Presidency”, in John Chubb and Paul
Peterson, eds., The New Directions in American Politics, pp. 235-271.
2. Joel Aberbach and Mark Peterson, eds., The Executive Branch, pp.
135-174 (Chapter 5)
3. Joseph Cooper, “From Congressional to Presidential Preeminence”, in
Dodd and Oppenheimer, eds., Congress Reconsidered, 9th edition, pp.
361-393.
4. Bessette and Tulis, eds., The Constitutional Presidency, pp. 149- 202
(Chapter 7-8).
5. James Thurber, ed., Rivals for Power, 4th edition, pp. 187-209 and
325-351 (Chapters 8 and 14).
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