Reluctant nationalists: federal administration and administrative law in the Republican era, 1801-1829.

Yale Law Journal, June, 2007 by Mashaw, Jerry L.

In 1801 the Jeffersonian Republicans took charge of Congress, the presidency, and the national administration, determined to roll back the state-building excesses of their Federalist predecessors. In this effort they were partially successful. But the tide of history and the demands of a growing nation confounded their ambitions. While reclaiming democracy they also built administrative capacity.

This Article examines administrative structure and accountability in the Republican era in an attempt to understand the "administrative law" of the early nineteenth century. That inquiry proceeds through two extended case studies: the Jeffersonian embargo of 1807-1809 and the multi-decade federal effort to survey and sell the ever-expanding "public domain." The first was the most...

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