New Democracy: The Creation of the Modern American State

The New Deal was not an aberration in American history, but rather the culmination of a long history of governmental activism that began with the Civil War and continued through the late eighteenth century. This activism aimed to change how Americans lived and worked through legislation, regulation, and public administration. Citizens witnessed the successes of an energetic, interventionist state and demanded more of the same, calling on politicians and civil servants to address unfair competition, labor exploitation, form public utilities, and reform police power.

Format: Hardback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 25 March 2022
Publisher: Harvard University Press

The activist state of the New Deal emerged as a significant force decades before the FDR administration, showcasing the profound roots of energetic government in America. In the years between the Civil War and the New Deal, American governance underwent a transformative shift, with far-reaching consequences for social and economic life. A series of legal reforms gradually replaced nineteenth-century traditions of local self-government and associative citizenship with positive statecraft. This governmental activism aimed to reshape the way Americans lived and worked through legislation, regulation, and public administration. The last time American public life had undergone such a significant transformation was in the late eighteenth century, during the founding and the early years following.

William J. Novak delves into how Americans translated new conceptions of citizenship, social welfare, and economic democracy into demands for law and policy that delivered public services and protected peoples rights. Over time, Americans gradually abandoned earlier notions of the scope and responsibilities of government and embraced the idea that legislators and administrators in Washington could address economic regulation and social-welfare problems. As citizens witnessed the successes of an energetic, interventionist state, they demanded more of the same, urging politicians and civil servants to address unfair competition, labor exploitation, establish public utilities, and reform police power.

New Democracy challenges the myth that America was a weak state until the New Deal by tracing a steadily aggrandizing authority well before the Roosevelt years. The United States exhibited a remarkable ability to exercise power domestically and intervene on behalf of redistributive goals for an extended period. This era of assertive government laid the foundation for the New Deal, which further expanded the federal government's role in addressing social and economic challenges.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674260443