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Current Historiographic Trends in the Study of the Twentieth-Century Congress

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Joel H. Silbey
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Extract

Once upon a time, historians and political scientists expended a great deal of effort in tracing the complex development of the United States Congress in the twentieth century—a time, especially from the 1930s onward, during which Congress faced a remarkable expansion in government activity as a surge of new concerns, foreign and domestic, and, as a result, an unprecedented load of business, all but overwhelmed the institution. During this same time, Congress’s role within the American political system has been Social Science transformed in the face of the rise of the imperial presidency, the Supreme Court’s insistence on changing rules of representation, and the consequent shift in the institution’s makeup and internal power structure. Finally, public perceptions of Congress, increasingly negative as they have become, have had some significant impact on the transformation of Congress within the American political system as well (Sundquist 1981; Harris 1993; Rieselbach 1994).

Type
Roundtable: The U.S. Congress in the Twentieth Century
Information
Social Science History , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , summer 2000 , pp. 317 - 331
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2000 

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