Whose vision fulfilled? Toward a rightful ideological progenitor for the U.S. Federal Depository Library Program

Journal of Government Information

Volumn 26, Issue 4, 1999, Pages 347-359

  Walters, John Spencer ^a  

^a UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Anglo American Tradition Concerning Public Information; Federal Depository Library Program; Informed Public; James Madison

Indexed keywords

EID: 0002332261     PISSN: 13520237     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S1352-0237(99)00052-0     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. U.S. Government Printing Office, "About the Council," Depository Library Council Home Page .
2. U.S. Government Printing Office, Depository Library Council, Fulfilling Madison's Vision: The Federal Depository Library Program (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996).
3. Saul K. Padover, ed., The Complete Madison: His Basic Writings (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1953), 337.
4. John Adams offered what is, perhaps, a statement more fully consonant with the activities of a Federal Depository Library Program. The people, Adams proclaimed, "have a right, an indisputable, indefeasible divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers." Robert J. Taylor, ed., Papers of John Adams, Series III: General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesmen, vol. 1, September 1755-October 1773 (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977), 120-121; Certainly the pithiest and, perhaps, most forceful statement in favor of activities like those of the FDLP came from Jeremy Bentham, the great British philosopher and, quite unlike Madison, unswerving advocate of an informed citizenry, who penned the following aphorism: "The people is my Caesar; I appeal from the present Caesar to Caesar better informed." Bowring, ed., The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Commonplace Book, vol. X, 73.
5. John Adams offered what is, perhaps, a statement more fully consonant with the activities of a Federal Depository Library Program. The people, Adams proclaimed, "have a right, an indisputable, indefeasible divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers." Robert J. Taylor, ed., Papers of John Adams, Series III: General Correspondence and Other Papers of the Adams Statesmen, vol. 1, September 1755-October 1773 (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1977), 120-121; Certainly the pithiest and, perhaps, most forceful statement in favor of activities like those of the FDLP came from Jeremy Bentham, the great British philosopher and, quite unlike Madison, unswerving advocate of an informed citizenry, who penned the following aphorism: "The people is my Caesar; I appeal from the present Caesar to Caesar better informed." Bowring, ed., The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Commonplace Book, vol. X, 73.
6. Neal Riemer, "James Madison's Theory of the Self-Destructive Features of Republican Government," Ethics 65 (1954-55): 34.
7. Jack Rakove, James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown Higher Education, 1990), 55. However magnificent Madison's undertaking, he allowed 50 years to elapse before sharing his notes with the public. In ascribing motives to Madison's decision to withhold publication, one writer believes that Madison sought to protect reputations, including his own. In a less generous assessment, another writer suggests that money inspired Madison, who believed that his notes would fetch a higher price over time. See: Thomas Leonard, The Power of the Press: The Birth of American Political Reporting (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 67; see also: Irving Brant, James Madison, Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800 (Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1950), 21, 86.
8. Jack Rakove, James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown Higher Education, 1990), 55. However magnificent Madison's undertaking, he allowed 50 years to elapse before sharing his notes with the public. In ascribing motives to Madison's decision to withhold publication, one writer believes that Madison sought to protect reputations, including his own. In a less generous assessment, another writer suggests that money inspired Madison, who believed that his notes would fetch a higher price over time. See: Thomas Leonard, The Power of the Press: The Birth of American Political Reporting (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 67; see also: Irving Brant, James Madison, Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800 (Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1950), 21, 86.
9. Jack Rakove, James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic (Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown Higher Education, 1990), 55. However magnificent Madison's undertaking, he allowed 50 years to elapse before sharing his notes with the public. In ascribing motives to Madison's decision to withhold publication, one writer believes that Madison sought to protect reputations, including his own. In a less generous assessment, another writer suggests that money inspired Madison, who believed that his notes would fetch a higher price over time. See: Thomas Leonard, The Power of the Press: The Birth of American Political Reporting (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 67; see also: Irving Brant, James Madison, Father of the Constitution, 1787-1800 (Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1950), 21, 86.
10. Rakove, 99.
11. Historian Gordon Wood describes the U.S. Constitution as "a political devise designed to control the social forces the revolution had released." Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1969), 476.
12. Max Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 1 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1911), 27. According to historian Robert Williams, Madison was among the delegates who perceived state constitutions as ineffective checks against powerful state legislatures.
13. Robert Williams, "The Influences of Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution on American Constitutionalism During the Founding Decade," Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography CXII, no. 1 (January 1988): 39.
14. Gordon Wood, "Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution," in Beyond Confederation: Origins of the Constitution and American National Identity, Richard Beeman, ed. (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1987), 75.
15. Wolfgang Kraus, "The Democratic Community and the Problem of Publicity," in Community, Carl Friedrich, ed. (New York: The Liberal Arts Press, 1959), 252.
16. David Hackett Fischer, The Revolution of American Conservatism (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 4. Fischer writes that the "men who led the Federalists before 1800 . . . believed that the sacred duty of a public man was to pursue the 'common good' without permitting himself to be distracted by the opinions of friends and constituents, by opinions merely popular." Fischer, 150. Traditional Whigs, such as Madison, historian Donald Lutz explained, "did not think in terms of representing individuals, interests, or factions. The representatives would be disinterested men elected for their superior abilities and experience, not as spokesmen for certain interests. They were to spend their time working for the common good, the interests of the people at large." See: Donald Lutz, Popular Consent and Popular Control: Whig Political Theory in the Early State Constitutions (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1980), 11.
17. David Hackett Fischer, The Revolution of American Conservatism (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 4. Fischer writes that the "men who led the Federalists before 1800 . . . believed that the sacred duty of a public man was to pursue the 'common good' without permitting himself to be distracted by the opinions of friends and constituents, by opinions merely popular." Fischer, 150. Traditional Whigs, such as Madison, historian Donald Lutz explained, "did not think in terms of representing individuals, interests, or factions. The representatives would be disinterested men elected for their superior abilities and experience, not as spokesmen for certain interests. They were to spend their time working for the common good, the interests of the people at large." See: Donald Lutz, Popular Consent and Popular Control: Whig Political Theory in the Early State Constitutions (Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1980), 11.
18. Roy N. Lokken, "The Concept of Democracy in Colonial Political Thought," William and Mary Quarterly 16 (January/October, 1959): 577-578.
19. William Thomas Hutchinson, ed., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 9, (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1962-), 370, 384; see also: Gordon Wood, "Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution," 91-92.
20. William Thomas Hutchinson, ed., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 9, (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1962-), 370, 384; see also: Gordon Wood, "Interests and Disinterestedness in the Making of the Constitution," 91-92.
21. Richard John, Spreading the News: The American Postal System from Franklin to Morse (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), 29.
22. Russell Hanson, The Democratic Imagination in America: Conversations with Our Past (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985), 76.
23. Jacob Cooke, ed., The Federalist (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1961), 56-65.
24. Douglas Adair, "'That Politics May be Reduced to a Science': David Hume, James Madison, and the Tenth Federalist," Huntington Library Quarterly, 20, no. 4 (August 1957): 348.
25. Hutchinson, ed., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, 158.
26. Hutchinson, ed., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, 158; see also: John, Spreading the News, 63.
27. Hutchinson, ed., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 14, 158; see also: John, Spreading the News, 63.
28. Rakove, James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic, 72.
29. John, Spreading the News, 29.
30. Hutchinson, ed., The Papers of James Madison, "Public Opinion," vol. 14, 170.
31. John, Spreading the News, 56.
32. Vernon Parrington, The Colonial Mind, 1620-1800 (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1958), 47.
33. Gordon S. Wood, "The Democratization of the Mind in the American Revolution," in Leadership in the American Revolution: Papers Presented at the Third Symposium on the American Revolution (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1974), 69. According to Wood, the political leadership "vaguely held to a largely unspoken assumption that if only the educated and enlightened, if only gentlemen, could be convinced, then the rest would follow naturally." Wood, "The Democratization of the Mind in the American Revolution," 67.
34. Gordon S. Wood, "The Democratization of the Mind in the American Revolution," in Leadership in the American Revolution: Papers Presented at the Third Symposium on the American Revolution (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1974), 69. According to Wood, the political leadership "vaguely held to a largely unspoken assumption that if only the educated and enlightened, if only gentlemen, could be convinced, then the rest would follow naturally." Wood, "The Democratization of the Mind in the American Revolution," 67.
35. Hutchinson, ed., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 9, 355-356.
36. John Randolph, "Considerations on the Present State of Virginia," quoted in Merrill Jensen, "The Articles of Confederation," in Library of Congress Symposium on the American Revolution, 1973, Fundamental Testaments of the American Revolution (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1973), 56.
37. John Randolph, "Considerations on the Present State of Virginia," quoted in Merrill Jensen, "The Articles of Confederation," in Library of Congress Symposium on the American Revolution, 1973, Fundamental Testaments of the American Revolution (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1973), 56.
38. Parrington, The Colonial Mind, 315.
39. Cecilia Kenyon, "Men of Little Faith: The Anti-Federalists on the Nature of Representative Government," William and Mary Quarterly 12 (1955): 33-36.
40. Kraus, "The Democratic Community and the Problem of Publicity," 240.
41. Michael MacDonagh, Reporter's Gallery (London, New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1913), 179. To the British Parliament, MacDonagh ascribed "the motive that most powerfully swayed those who were opposed to . . . the publication of debates, was a fastidious contempt, if not a distrust, of the common people, and the desire to keep them severely in their place."
42. MacDonagh, The Reporter's Gallery, 100; see also: Elizabeth McPherson, "Southern States and Reporting Senate Debates, 1789-1802," Journal of Southern History, XII, no. 2 (May 1946): 225.
43. MacDonagh, The Reporter's Gallery, 100; see also: Elizabeth McPherson, "Southern States and Reporting Senate Debates, 1789-1802," Journal of Southern History, XII, no. 2 (May 1946): 225.
44. MacDonagh, Reporter's Gallery, 101.
45. Thomas Leonard, The Power of the Press: The Birth of American Political Reporting (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), 5.
46. Daniel N. Hoffman, Governmental Secrecy and the Founding Fathers: A Study in Constitutional Controls (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981), 20.
47. "The Constitution of the United States," in United States Government Manual 1997/98 (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1997), 5-21.
48. "The Constitution of the United States," 6.
49. Leonard, The Power of the Press, 66.
50. Daniel Walker Howe, Political Culture of American Whigs (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 26.
51. John Quincy Adams, Lectures on Rhetoric and Oratory, Delivered to the Classes of Senior and Junior Sophisters in Harvard University, vol. 1 (Cambridge, MA: Hilliard and Metcaly, 1810), 19.
52. Leonard, Power of the Press, 66; Patrick Henry's legend, in particular, grew by word of mouth. See: Stephen T. Olsen, "Patrick Henry's 'Liberty or Death' Speech: A Study in Disputed Authorship," in American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism, ed. Thomas W. Benson (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989), 19-65.
53. Leonard, Power of the Press, 66; Patrick Henry's legend, in particular, grew by word of mouth. See: Stephen T. Olsen, "Patrick Henry's 'Liberty or Death' Speech: A Study in Disputed Authorship," in American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism, ed. Thomas W. Benson (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989), 19-65.
54. MacDonagh, Reporter's Gallery, 178.
55. Leonard, The Power of the Press, 83.
56. Leonard, 94.
57. Leonard, 83.
58. Richard D. Brown, The Strength of a People: The Idea of an Informed Citizenry in America, 1650-1870 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 93.
59. See generally: Carl J. Richard, The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994).
60. Brown, The Strength of a People, 96.
61. Dagobert Runes, ed., The Selected Writings of Benjamin Rush (New York: Philosophical Library, 1947), 29.
62. Runes, 31.
63. Andrew A. Lipscomb, ed., The Writings of Thomas Jefferson vol. 3, (Washington, DC: Thomas Jefferson Memorial Association, 1904), 423.
64. Worthington Ford, ed., Statesman and Friend: Correspondence of John Adams with Benjamin Waterhouse (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Company, 1927), 25.
65. Saul Cornell, "Aristocracy Assailed: The Ideology of Backcountry Anti-Federalism," The Journal of American History 76, no. 4 (March 1990): 1168-1171.
66. Cornell, 1153.
67. Williams, "The Influences of Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution on American Constitutionalism," 26.
68. Richard Alan Ryerson, "Republican Theory and Partisan Reality in Revolutionary Pennsylvania: Toward a New View of the Constitutionalists Party," in Sovereign States in an Age of Uncertainty, Ronald Hoffman, ed. (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1981), 98.
69. Benjamin Perley Poore, ed., The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Organic Laws of the United States, Pt. 2 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1878), 1535.
70. Poore, 1535.
71. Poore, 1535. According to historian Robert Brunhouse, these provisions did not work very well in practice, largely because legislative bills never were printed in excess of 500 copies and circulation chiefly limited to Philadelphia. See: Robert Brunhouse, The Counter-Revolution in Pennsylvania, 1776-1790 (Harrisburg, PA: The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1971), 5; In addition to citing the absence of newspapers beyond Philadelphia, Thomas Paine asserted that the government's failure to establish a mechanism for "collecting" public sentiment had further rendered ineffectual these informing provisions, and that "a good and wise intention sunk into mere form, which is generally the case when the means are not adequate to the end." Thomas Paine quoted in J. Paul Selsam, The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776: A Study in Revolutionary Democracy (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1936), 184.
72. Poore, 1535. According to historian Robert Brunhouse, these provisions did not work very well in practice, largely because legislative bills never were printed in excess of 500 copies and circulation chiefly limited to Philadelphia. See: Robert Brunhouse, The Counter-Revolution in Pennsylvania, 1776-1790 (Harrisburg, PA: The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1971), 5; In addition to citing the absence of newspapers beyond Philadelphia, Thomas Paine asserted that the government's failure to establish a mechanism for "collecting" public sentiment had further rendered ineffectual these informing provisions, and that "a good and wise intention sunk into mere form, which is generally the case when the means are not adequate to the end." Thomas Paine quoted in J. Paul Selsam, The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776: A Study in Revolutionary Democracy (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1936), 184.
73. Richard Alan Ryerson, The Revolution is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia, 1765-1776 (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978), 5.
74. Brunhouse, The Counter-Revolution in Pennsylvania, 235.
75. Selsam, The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, 186.
76. Williams, "The Influences of Pennsylvania's 1776 Constitution on American Constitutionalism," 45.
77. Gordon S. Wood, "The Democratization of the Mind in the American Revolution," 74.
78. Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 2, September 15, 1787, 632.
79. Farrand, ed., vol. 2, September 14, 1787, 613.
80. Farrand, ed., vol. 2, September 14, 1787, 618.
81. "Publication of Debates," Annals of Congress, 2nd Cong., 1st sess., April 20, 1792, 563.
82. Gerry's resolution follows: "Whereas an impartial publication of the Debates of Congress, stating accurately their legislative measures, and the reasons urged for and against them, is a desirable object, inasmuch as it may aid the executive in administering the government, the judiciary in expounding the laws, the Government and citizens of the several states in forming a judgment of the conduct of their respective representatives, and congress themselves in revising and amending their legislative proceedings; and whereas, from the want of proper arrangements, such publication has not been accomplished -Resolved, that - persons of good reputation, and skilled in the art of stenography, be, at the next session, appointed by ballot, to take and publish impartially and accurately, the legislative subjects which may be submitted to the consideration of the house, and the debates thereon of the members respectively; that the persons so to be appointed be considered as officers of the House, and provided for accordingly" [emphasis added]. Publication of Debates, Annals of Congress, 563.
83. Elizabeth Gregory McPherson, "Reporting the Debates of Congress," Quarterly Journal of Speech, XXVIII, no. 2 (April 1942), 148.
84. Farrand, ed., The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, vol. 1, May 31, 1787, 48.
85. George Athan Billias, Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976), 21.
86. Billias, 187.
87. Billias, 230.
88. Gerry quoted in Billias, 235.