The Rise of the Federal Colossus: The Growth of Federal Power from Lincoln to F.D.R.

(Hardback)

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This challenging book explores the debates over the scope of the enumerated powers of Congress and the Fourteenth Amendment that accompanied the expansion of federal authority during the period between the beginning of the Civil War and the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The Rise of the Federal Colossus: The Growth of Federal Power from Lincoln to F.D.R. offers readers a front-row seat for the critical phases of a debate that is at the very center of American history, exploring such controversial issues as what powers are bestowed on the federal government, what its role should be, and how the Constitution should be interpreted. The book argues that the critical period in the growth of federal power was not the New Deal and the three decades that followed, but the preceding 72 years when important precedents establishing the national government's authority to aid citizens in distress, regulate labor, and take steps to foster economic growth were established. The author explores newspaper and magazine articles, as well as congressional debates and court opinions, to determine how Americans perceived the growing authority of their national government and examine arguments over whether novel federal activities had any constitutional basis. Responses of government to the enormous changes that took place during this period are also surveyed.

Reviews

Zavodnyik presents a valuable new contribution to Praeger's "American Political Culture" series . . . Summing up: Recommended. * Choice *
Readers in search of an exhaustive account of the activities of the federal government and the expansion of its impact on society will find value in Zavodnyik's narrative. The author seemingly leaves no piece of evidence behind in his attempt to document carefully the different ways that federal authority operated between 1865 and 1933. . . . Zavodnyik sticks relentlessly close to his sources, an approach that ultimately renders this book useful to historians mainly as a kind of primary-source concordance. * The Journal of American History *

Author Bio

Peter Zavodnyik is a lawyer in private practice in Chicago and the author of The Age of Strict Construction: A History of the Growth of Federal Power, 1789-1861.