Bücher von Richard Lawrence Miller

The American Republic's founders debated whether to have a government based on direct democracy (in which the general population decided public policy questions, as in a New England town meeting) or representative democracy (in which those decisions were made by senators and congressmen on behalf of the general population). A related issue was whether the general population should have the "right of instruction" which gave citizens authority to expel from office government officials who disobeyed the desires of the population. The right of instruction is now largely forgotten but in former times was considered so important that it was routinely included in state constitutions. This book examines the competition between direct democracy and representative democracy in the United States, focusing particularly on the doctrine of instruction, through the lens of the pre-presidential career of Abraham Lincoln.

Concentrating on presidents and cabinet members, from the birth of the US through the Carter administration, this book tells how they and their associates gained and lost wealth, and how this affected the US's well-being.