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For Dylan and Sadie

7
American Government
Stories of a Nation, Essentials Edition

Scott F. Abernathy
University of Minnesota

8
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10
Brief Contents
1. Preface
2. Acknowledgments
3. About the Author
4. PART I: FOUNDATIONS
1. 1. American Political Stories: Claiming Rights, Demanding to Be Heard
2. 2. The Constitution of the United States: Practical Politics and a New Vision of Representative
Government
3. 3. Federalism: The Changing Boundaries between the Nation and the States
4. 4. Civil Liberties: Building and Defending Fences
5. 5. Civil Rights: How Equal Is Equal?
5. PART II: POLITICAL BEHAVIOR AND MASS POLITICS
1. 6. Political Participation: Carry That Weight
2. 7. Public Opinion: How Are Americans’ Voices Measured? Does It Matter?
3. 8. The Media: New Technologies, Enduring Issues
4. 9. Political Parties: The Insurgents versus the Establishment
5. 10. Campaigns and Elections: Candidates and Voters in an Era of Demographic Change
6. 11. Interest Groups and Social Movements: Collective Action, Power, and Representation
6. PART III: INSTITUTIONS
1. 12. Congress: Representation, Organization, and Legislation
2. 13. The American Presidency: Individuals, Institutions, and Executive Powers
3. 14. The Federal Bureaucracy: Putting the Nation’s Laws into Effect
4. 15. The Federal Judiciary: Politics, Power, and the “Least Dangerous” Branch
7. Appendix
8. Glossary
9. Notes
10. Index

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Detailed Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
PART I: FOUNDATIONS
1. American Political Stories: Claiming Rights, Demanding to Be Heard
American Students Claim Their Rights
People Matter! But So Do Ideas
Equality
Inalienable Rights
Liberty
The Pursuit of Happiness: The American Dream
Telling Stories with Data: Millennials and the American Dream
Religious Beliefs
America the Different?
American Political Ideologies
Drafting the Declaration of Independence: Affirming and Demanding Fundamental Rights
Thomas Jefferson on Natural Rights: Capturing the “American Mind”
Natural Law and the Declaration of Independence: The Case against Bad Government
The American Revolution: Ideals and Strategic Politics
Indigenous Peoples in North America
Slavery in the British Colonies
Colonial Independence and Autonomy
Global War and Its Aftermath
The American Radicals: From Ideas to Strategic Action to Political Institutions
The Idea of Independence: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Radical Action and the British Response
The Sons of Liberty
The Crisis Accelerates
The Boston Tea Party
The Natural Rights of African Americans in Colonial America
Telling Other Stories: Lemuel Haynes on Natural Rights and Slavery
Institutionalizing Independence
Revolutionary Women: Invisibility, Exclusion, and Building Other Institutions
A Revolution Still under Construction
Institutions Matter, Too
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail
White Clergy Members Urge Moderation
King’s Affirmation of Natural Rights
Telling Stories with Images: The Power of the Media
Conclusion: The American Experiment, Continued, and You Are Part of It
Chapter Review
2. The Constitution of the United States: Practical Politics and a New Vision of Representative
Government
James Madison’s Research Project: “The Fathers Were Practical Men”
American Government Before the Constitution: The Articles of Confederation, Problems of
National Authority, and Differences between the States
Uniting Separate States While Preserving Their Authority
Representation and the Sovereignty of States
Limitations on the Power of the Confederal Government

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 Unrest and the Danger of Rebellion
Debt and Economic Crisis in Post-Revolutionary America
Civil Unrest and Military Conflict
Shays’ Rebellion: A Crisis and an Opportunity
Telling Stories with Images: Two Portrayals of Shays’ Rebellion
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia: “Experience Must Be Our Only Guide”
America’s State Constitutions: Models, Good and Bad
The Convention Begins: Debates about Representation and Power
The Question of States’ Representation
The Virginia Plan: A New Method for Determining Representation
The New Jersey Plan: Less Populous States Respond
The Great Compromise
Details of the New Government
The Legislative Branch
The Executive Branch
The Judiciary
Separation of Powers
“Unfinished Parts”: More Details to Work Out
Slavery: A Fateful Compromise
Telling Stories with Data: Slavery, Population, and the Balance of Power between Southern and
Northern States
James Madison on Slavery
A Document Finished, but Not the Law of the Land
Ratification: Federalists versus Antifederalists
The Dangers of Power in a Large Republic
The Problem of Faction
Two Forms of Tyranny
The Power of the National Government and the States
Federalist Arguments for a Strong National Government
Antifederalist Concerns
A Bill of Rights
Telling Other Stories: Mercy Otis Warren on the Dangers of the Constitution and the Need for
a Bill of Rights
Conclusion: What Is the Constitution?
Chapter Review
3. Federalism: The Changing Boundaries between the Nation and the States
Between State and Federal Law: Fighting for Access to Medical Marijuana
American Federalism and the Constitution
Distributing Power between the Levels of Government
Three Key Clauses: Supremacy, Necessary and Proper, and Commerce
The Powers of the Nation and the States in the Constitution
The National Government
State Governments
Regional and Local Governments
The Supreme Court Weighs In: Medical Marijuana and American Federalism
Telling Other Stories: Justice Clarence Thomas on Federalism and Medical Marijuana
The Development of American Federalism
Early Attempts to Carve Out National Power: Three Decisions by the Marshall Court
The Era of Dual Federalism: Divided Powers in the Nineteenth Century
The Era of States’ Rights: The Civil War and Reconstruction
Dual Federalism and the Restriction of African Americans’ Rights: The Supreme
Court and Civil Rights after the Civil War

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 The Era of Big Business and Commerce: Federalism in the Age of Industry and
National Expansion
The Great Depression and the New Deal: A Nation on the Brink of Failure and Revolution in
American Federalism
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Revolution
The “Hundred Days” and the New Deal
Telling Stories with Images: FDR’s Blue Eagle
New Deal Expansion
Roosevelt Strikes Back
The Legacy of the New Deal
Modern American Federalism: Expansion, Restriction, and State Resistance
Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society” and the Expansion of Cooperative Federalism
“New Federalism,” Devolution, and Attempts to Roll Back National Power
American Federalism in the Twenty-First Century: Where Do We Go from Here?
Conclusion: American Federalism Challenged, in Progress, and Undecided
Chapter Review
4. Civil Liberties: Building and Defending Fences
“From Russia with Love”: Edward Snowden: Traitor, Hero, or None of the Above
Telling Other Stories: A Conservative Legal Expert Accuses Edward Snowden of Violating Civil
Liberties
The Constitution and the Bill of Rights: The Foundations for the Protections for Americans’
Civil Liberties
Federalists versus Antifederalists, Ratification, and the Bill of Rights
Ten Amendments, Proposed and Ratified
Another Outlaw: Another Charge against the Government’s Infringements upon Civil Liberties
Selective Incorporation: Applying the Bill of Rights to State Laws and Actions
The First Amendment: “Congress Shall Make No Law”
Religion: Establishment and Free Exercise
The Establishment Clause and the Supreme Court
Taxpayer Funds and Private Religious Schools
Prayer in Schools
Current Status of Prayer in Schools
Supreme Court Tests for Governmental Involvement with Religion
Free Exercise and the Supreme Court
Other First Amendment Protections: Speech, Press, Assembly, and Petition
Early Challenges to Expression: The Alien and Sedition Acts
National Security and Political Expression
The Press and National Security
Symbolic Speech
Less Protected Forms of Expression
Freedom of Assembly
The Second Amendment: Firearms
Telling Stories with Images: “Philosoraptor” and Second Amendment Memes
Criminal Rights
The Fourth Amendment: Search, Seizure, Warrants, and Evidence
The Fifth Amendment: The Grand Jury, Double Jeopardy, and Self-Incrimination
The Sixth Amendment: Trials, Juries, and Attorneys
The Eighth Amendment: Bail and Punishment
The Last Two Amendments in the Bill of Rights: Setting the Larger Boundaries around the
Power of the Federal Government
The Ninth Amendment: Rights Not Specified
The Tenth Amendment: Powers Reserved to the States

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 Americans Claim Their Rights to Marriage Equality
The Supreme Court and the Right to Privacy
The Use of Contraceptives
Sexual Conduct between Consenting Adults
A Woman’s Decision to Terminate a Pregnancy
Marriage Equality and the Final Blow to DOMA
Conclusion: Fences Still under Construction
Chapter Review
5. Civil Rights: How Equal Is Equal?
Securing Rights for Those with Disabilities: Refusing to Be Called a “Fire Hazard”
“Equal Justice Under Law”: Confronting a History of Segregation and Oppression
The American Civil War and Its Aftermath
Using the Federal Judiciary to Challenge Jim Crow, and Failing
The NAACP’s Judicial Assault on Legal Segregation
Telling Stories with Images: Can Separate Ever Be Equal?
Brown v. Board of Education and Southern Resistance to the End of Legal Segregation:
“Separate But Equal Has No Place”
Southern Resistance, and a Lack of Progress on the Ground
Other Actors Join the Struggle
Telling Stories with Data: Can the Supreme Court Effect Social Change?
Testing the Limits of Equal Protection for African Americans
Securing Civil Rights for American Women
Enfranchisement: Voting, Education, and Ending Slavery
Telling Other Stories: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper on Women’s Rights, Racism, and
American Society
Beyond the Vote: The Second Wave
Supreme Court Decisions on Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment
Complexity and Change in Americans’ Efforts to Secure Their Civil Rights
Civil Rights and the Diversity of Lived Experiences in American History
Telling Other Stories: Thurgood Marshall on the Nation’s Progress, or Lack of It, toward Racial
Equality
Conclusion: Have Americans’ Civil Rights Been Secured?
Chapter Review
PART II: POLITICAL BEHAVIOR AND MASS POLITICS
6. Political Participation: Carry that Weight
Shaping the Political Agenda: Testifying on the Problem of Sexual Violence and Firearms on
College Campuses
The Many Forms of Political Participation
Mobilization and Pressure: Art and Protest as Tools of Social and Political Change
Telling Stories with Images: The Use of Images in Political Protest and Mobilization
Voting: Factors That Shape Electoral Participation
Individual Factors and the Decision to Vote
Socioeconomic Status and Educational Attainment
Political Efficacy
Age
Telling Stories with Data: Americans Are Exceptional at Not Voting, but Why?
Racial and Ethnic Identities
Sex and Voter Turnout
Telling Other Stories: Hey Older Americans, It’s the Economy: Young Adult Americans on the
Elections of 2016
Partisan Attachment
Legal and Institutional Contributors and Barriers to Voter Turnout

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 Election-Specific Factors
Acting at a Very Local Level: Preventing Campus Sexual Assaults through Education and
Distraction
Young Americans: Political Participation and Nonparticipation in the Twenty-First Century
Conclusion: Are Young Adult Americans Really Disconnected from the Political Process?
Chapter Review
7. Public Opinion: How Are Americans’ Voices Measured? Does It Matter?
The “Fergusons” of America: Differing Views on a Tragic Event
What Is Public Opinion?
What Does Public Opinion Really Tell Us?
Stereotypes and Nonattitudes: A Pessimistic View of What the Public Knows and
Thinks
What Do Americans Know, or Not Know, about Politics, and Does It Matter?
Cues, Information Shortcuts, and Aggregation: A More Optimistic View of
American Public Opinion
The Components of Individual Opinions
Shaping Public Opinion: The Battle over the “Fergusons”
Measuring and Transmitting Public Opinion
Telling Other Stories: Different Perspectives about the Meaning of Ferguson
The Foundations of Scientific Polling
Types of Surveys
Are Public Opinion Surveys Valid? How Surveys Themselves May Shape Their Findings
How Are Polls Used?
Telling Stories with Images: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Changes Its Cover Photo
The Formation of Political Attitudes: Exploring Political Socialization
Political Socialization: The Sources of Political Knowledge and Opinion
Families, Schools, and Peers: Early Shapers of Information and Opinion
Personal Experience and Lived Events
New Perspectives, Technologies, and the Shaping of Public Opinion
Patterns of American Public Opinion: Partisan Identification, Individual and Group
Identities, and Elites
Partisan Identification
Gender
Racial and Ethnic Identity
Challenging Traditional Patterns of Division: Ferguson and Cross-Cutting Patterns
of American Public Opinion
Ferguson and the Effects of Public Opinion on Democratic Representation
Telling Stories with Data: Change in American Public Opinion after Ferguson
Conclusion: The Meanings of Public Opinion
Chapter Review
8. The Media: New Technologies, Enduring Issues
Blogging from War: Soldiers as Journalists
Telling Stories with Images: Doonesbury and Milbloggers
The Development of the American News Media
The Print Media, Revolution, and a New Nation
Freedom of the Press, the Constitution, and the Ratification Debates
The Media Go “Mass”: Penny Presses, Partisanship, and Scandal
Journalists as Investigators and Activists
Direct to Americans’ Homes: Radio and Television
The New Media: “The Revolution Will Be Posted”
Regulating the Media: Ownership and Content
Regulation, Consolidation of Ownership, and Changes in Patterns of Consumption

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 Regulating Content: Another Changing Landscape
Telling Other Stories: In Defense of Deregulation
Merging News and Entertainment: Journalists as Celebrities
How the Media Shape American Politics Today: Bias, Campaign Coverage, and the Power of
the Media
The Rise of New Media
The News as Entertainment
Bias and Coverage of the News
The Media and Political Campaigns and Elections
The Power of the News Media
A Digital Divide?
Telling Stories with Data: Do the Media Make Us Smart (or Not So Smart)? Or Do We Make
Them Look Good (or Not So Good)?
Conclusion: Comedians as Respected Journalists
Chapter Review
9. Political Parties: The Insurgents versus the Establishment
Two Presidential Candidates Shake Up The Field
What Are Parties, and What Do They Do?
The Roles That Parties Play
Parties as Organizations
Federalism and Political Parties
Party Leadership
Recruiting and Supporting Candidates
Parties and Political Campaigns
The Nomination Process
Telling Stories with Data: Using Maps to Explore the Consequences of Primary and Caucus
Schedules
The Party in the Electorate
The Party in Government
Telling Other Stories: The Two Parties Rethink Their National Strategies
The Presidential Election of 2016: Bye Bye, Conventional Wisdom
Telling Stories with Images: Bernie Sanders and the Superdelegates
The Development of American Political Parties
The Party Systems
The First Party System, 1790–1828: Factions and the Creation of America’s First
Political Parties
The Second Party System, 1828–1856: The Roots of Mass Politics
The Third Party System, 1856–1892: The Issue of Slavery Upends the Party
System
The Fourth Party System, 1892–1932: New Divisions in the American Party
System
The Fifth Party System, 1932–1968: Economic Crisis and a New Party System
The Sixth Party System, 1968–Present Day: Shaping Modern Contours of
American Party Politics
A Seventh Party System?
Two-Party Dominance
The Prospect for Minor Parties in the Twenty-First Century
Conclusion: The Fallout
Chapter Review
10. Campaigns and Elections: Candidates and Voters in an Era of Demographic Change
Latino Outreach in the 2016 Election
Elections and Democratic Representation

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 The Functions of Elections
Money in Political Campaigns
What Money Buys
Can Campaign Contributions Be Effectively Regulated?
Competing for Latino Votes in a Presidential Campaign: Capturing an Unrealized Potential
Telling Stories with Images: “My Story | Dulce Candy”
The Politics of Presidential Elections
The Stages of Presidential Campaigns
Before the Official Campaign
The Nomination Process
The General Election
California’s Twenty-Fourth Congressional District: A First-Timer Runs for the House of
Representatives
The Politics of Congressional Elections
Constituency: The Boundaries of Representation
Constituency and the Senate
Constituency and the House of Representatives
Apportionment
Redistricting and Gerrymandering
Partisan Gerrymandering
Telling Other Stories: “Congressman L” and the Consequences of Redistricting
Racial and Ethnic Gerrymandering
Incumbent Gerrymandering
The Supreme Court and Congressional District Boundaries
Telling Stories with Data: The Representational Consequences of the Great Compromise
Institutional Factors: The Advantages of Congressional Incumbents
The Logic of Incumbency
Conclusion: From Candidate to Officeholder
Chapter Review
11. Interest Groups and Social Movements: Collective Action, Power, and Representation
Blowing Bubbles with Houses: The Roots of a Financial Crisis
A Nation of Joiners: Acting Collectively in American Representative Democracy
Theories of Interest Group Formation
Challenges to Group Formation and Activity
Interest Groups Act on Their Members’ Behalf: Responding to the Financial Crisis, Part I
Telling Other Stories: Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wall Street, Bailouts, Influence, and
Representation (or a Lack of It)
The Interest Group Landscape: Types and Tactics
Acting on the Inside: Lobbying by Interest Groups
The Lobbyists
Lobbying Congress: Influencing Legislation
Lobbying the Executive Branch: Influencing Implementation
Lobbying the Judiciary: Influencing Interpretation
Regulating Lobbying Activities
Webs and Networks of Interest Group Influence
Election-Related Activities
Acting from Outside: Grassroots Lobbying and Political Protest
Telling Stories with Data: 2016 Campaign Contributions by Economic Sector
Interest Groups and Representation
The Origins of a Social Movement?: Responding to the Financial Crisis, Part II
Telling Stories with Images: Depicting Income Inequality in the U.S.
Social Movements: Pinning Down their Existence, Success, and Failure

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 Why Do Some Social Movements Succeed and Others Fail?
Conclusion: Organizing for Change
Chapter Review
PART III: INSTITUTIONS
12. Congress: Representation, Organization, and Legislation
Women in Congress Today: Looking Around, Looking Back, and Looking Ahead
The Constitution and Congress
Key Differences between the Chambers
The House of Representatives
The Senate
The Powers of Congress
Legislative Authority
The Budgeting Process
Telling Other Stories: In Defense of Earmarks
Oversight
Stepping Up and Charting a Path to Congress
Telling Stories with Images: Gender and Metaphors of Power
Election-Specific Factors: The Perfect Storm of 1992
The Politics of Congressional Elections
Constituency and Incumbency
Experience and Money
Being in the Right Place at the Right Time . . . or Not
The Organization of Congress
Political Parties in Congress
Party Leadership in the House of Representatives
Party Leadership in the Senate
The Committee System
Committee Membership and Leadership
Types of Committees
Congressional Staff and the Congressional Bureaucracy
Norms: Informal Contributors to Congressional Organization
“I’m Just a Bill”: The Legislative Process
The First Step: Bill Introduction
Referral to Committee
Committee/Subcommittee Action
Floor Consideration
Consideration in the House of Representatives
Consideration in the Senate
Resolution of Differences between House and Senate Bills
Floor Reconsideration
Presidential Action
The Meanings and Challenges of Representation
Acting in Congress
Legislators’ Voting Decisions
The Problem of Information in Controlling Representatives’ Actions
The Less Visible Stages of the Legislative Process
The Problem of Partisanship
Being in Congress: Who Members Are
Descriptive Representation in Congress
Telling Stories with Data: Representing Representation
Increasing Descriptive Representation: Racial and Ethnic Gerrymandering
The Problem of Essentialism

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 Substantive Representation: The Connection between Acting and Being
Deliberation
Mentorship
Conclusion: The Complexity of Representation
Chapter Review
13. The American Presidency: Individuals, Institutions, and Executive Power
The “Body” of Anwar Al-Awlaki: Presidential War-Making Power in the Twenty-First Century
The Constitution and the American Presidency: A Vague Description of the Most Complicated
Job in the World
Selection, Qualifications for Office, and Length of Terms
Presidential Powers and Roles
Chief Executive
Chief Diplomat
Chief Legislator
Telling Stories with Images: Familiarity and Formality in Presidential Diplomacy
Commander in Chief
Pardons
Limitations on the Powers of the Presidency
Testing The Limits Of Presidential Power During The American Civil War
The “Body” of John Merryman: Presidential Power and the Civil War
President Lincoln’s Actions to Preserve the Union
President Lincoln’s Justification for His Wartime Powers: Strong and Temporary
Medicine
Individuals and the Development of Presidential Power
The Modern Presidency in Context: Institutions and Informal Sources of Power
The Vice Presidency
Telling Stories with Data: The Problem of Small Numbers in the Study of the Presidency
The Cabinet and the Executive Branch Bureaucracy
The First Spouse
The Executive Office of the President
Parties and Public Opinion
The President and Public Opinion
Americans’ Evaluations of Presidential Performance
Unilateral Presidential Action
Telling Stories with Images: The Risks of the Photo-Op
The “Body” of Yaser Hamdi: The Supreme Court Restricts Presidential Power in the War on
Terror
Presidential Character
Telling Other Stories: Attorney General Eric Holder on the Use of Lethal Force against U.S.
Citizens Abroad
Conclusion: The Paradox of Power
Chapter Review
14. The Federal Bureaucracy: Putting the Nation’s Laws into Effect
Hurricane Katrina: A National Crisis Places the Federal Bureaucracy under the Microscope
Theories of Bureaucratic Organization
Rules and Procedures–Centered Organization
People-Centered Organization
Tasks: Outputs and Outcomes–Centered Organization
The Development of the American Federal Bureaucracy
The Constitution and the Early Years of the Republic
Avoiding Tyranny but Preserving Efficiency
Removing Officers: The Unsettled Question

20
 The First Administration and the First Cabinet Departments
The Jacksonian Era and the Rise of Political Patronage
Post–Civil War Expansion
The Progressive Era
The Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War
The Great Society and the War on Poverty
Retrenchment and Scaling Back
The Structure of the Modern Federal Bureaucracy
Telling Stories with Images: The Department of Homeland Security’s Color-Coded Advisory
System
Telling Stories with Data: The Growth of the Federal Bureaucracy
Federal Bureaucrats: Organizations, Tasks, and Oversight
The Federal Hierarchy
Core Tasks: Implementation, Rulemaking, Advising, and Representation
Handling the Bureaucracy: Control, Oversight, and Reform
Controlling the Bureaucracy
The President
Congress
Other Influences
Telling Other Stories: Leah Hodges, Resident of New Orleans, Criticizes the Treatment of
Evacuees
Reform: Devolution, Deregulation, Reinvention, and Privatization
Conclusion: Another Devastating Hurricane, Another Federal Response
Chapter Review
15. The Federal Judiciary: Politics, Power, and the “Least Dangerous” Branch
The “Trial” of Sonia Sotomayor: Identity, Politics, and the Supreme Court
The Constitution and the Federal Judiciary
Article III: The Federal Judiciary in the Constitution
Ratification: Antifederalist Concerns and the Federalist Response
Telling Stories with Images: The Presentation of the Supreme Court
Congress Fills in the Blanks
The “Trial” of John Marshall: The Establishment of Judicial Review
The Election of 1800
The Federalist Response to Electoral Defeat: A Judicial Strategy
The Case: Appointments Signed, Sealed, (but Not) Delivered
Chief Justice John Marshall Confronts Politics and the Power of the Supreme Court
Marbury v. Madison and the Establishment of Judicial Review
The Implications of Marshall’s Decision
Telling Other Stories: Alexander Bickel on the Powers of Judicial Review
The Federal Judiciary and the American Legal System
Criminal and Civil Cases
The State Courts
The Structure of the Federal Judiciary
The Federal District Courts
The Appellate Courts
The Supreme Court
How Cases Proceed through the Federal Judiciary
The Supreme Court: The Decision to Take Cases on Appeal
The Supreme Court: Considering and Deciding upon Cases
Appointment to the Federal Judiciary
Presidential Considerations in Making Nominations to the Supreme Court
The “Trial” of Robert Bork: Politics, Confirmation, and Constitutional Interpretation

21
 Judicial Review, Constitutional Interpretation, and Judicial Decision Making
Theories of Constitutional Interpretation
The Legal Model
The Attitudinal Model
The Strategic Model
Judicial Restraint and Judicial Activism
Telling Stories with Data: Judicial Review and the Political Ideologies of Justices
The Supreme Court as National Policymaker
Limitations on the Power of the Supreme Court
The Agenda-Setting Power of the Supreme Court
Conclusion: The “Trial” of Merrick Garland?
Chapter Review
Appendix
Articles of Confederation
Declaration of Independence
Constitution of the United States
Federalist No. 10
Federalist No. 51
Political Party Affiliations in Congress and the Presidency, 1789–2017
Summary of Presidential Elections, 1789–2016
Glossary
Notes
Index

22
23
Preface

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Real People, Real Stories, Real Politics
Stories are powerful things. They help shape the political world in which we each live. They help define who we
are as individuals and as a people. And stories are also excellent teaching tools, making the material relatable,
memorable, and real. This book harnesses the full power of narrative to draw students into the study of American
politics, highlighting the unpredictable outcomes of people’s actions and strategies—both of individuals and
groups of individuals acting together.

As you’ll soon discover, this textbook is narrative to its core. Stories are not used as marginal introductory
elements that serve only as gateways into the main material, nor just as examples that extend the lessons—but as
the text itself. I have taught undergraduates for more than fifteen years here at the University of Minnesota, and
my experience has been that students read right past the chapter opening vignettes in their textbooks. I’ll bet you
have had that same, frustrating experience. It’s not because those brief intros are poorly written or boring either;
it’s that students know these supplemental narratives are, by design, peripheral and can be skipped to get to the
real testable content. That is a real missed opportunity for them to learn, remember, connect with, and ultimately
join in the narratives. In this book, the stories are the main event, the method through which students come to
understand American politics and processes, from the founding to current policy implementation.

25
The Benefit of Real Stories
This textbook tells stories about real people: their strategies, the actions they took, the contingencies surrounding
those actions and their outcomes, and the struggles they faced. The topics and scope of coverage are consistent
with other introductory American government texts and equally comprehensive. What is different about this
approach is that storytelling drives the pedagogy and thematic development in a way that engages students to
interact more directly with the material, one of the biggest challenges in any introductory class.

A Richer Understanding of Political Dynamics

With this approach students will better understand that political outcomes are not predetermined but are instead
the results of strategic choices made by political actors, usually undertaken in an uncertain environment, often
amid unequal relationships of power. The approach in this book is designed to show students how others have
wrestled with similar questions of power, action, and change, whether in very different times and circumstances or
in situations ripped from today’s headlines. How some have succeeded, others failed, but, more importantly, how
many have operated in the space between success and failure, adjusting their strategies along the way.

Stronger Connections through Engagement

A second benefit is that your students will actually read the book. In doing so they will be doing much more than
skimming for key terms or IDs. By combining the deep dives into one or a few key stories in each chapter with
solid research-backed core content, Stories of a Nation will guide your students to a genuine engagement with the
material, the theories that try to explain political outcomes, and the enduring questions of American representative
democracy. And, they will connect the dots between those elements. The first chapter of the book, for example,
clearly identifies and explains the founding ideals of American democracy—liberty, equality, natural rights, the
American Dream, American exceptionalism. But those ideas are each situated within a set of vivid stories about
people and groups coming from different times, places, and experiences who claimed their rights as citizens.
Starting on page one, students learn about Bridget Mergens, a high school student who wanted to start a Bible
club at her high school. They read about a group of high school students in Kentucky who—using the same set of
rights—wanted to start a Gay-Straight Alliance club. Later in the chapter they pick up the narrative thread again
to hear how Thomas Jefferson went about arguing for natural rights in drafting the Declaration of Independence
and the revolution of ideas that followed. As important, they learn what he and others left out. They hear the
voices of people like Lemuel Johnson and Esther DeBerdt Reed who spoke on behalf of African-Americans and
women in colonial America. Finally, at the chapter’s end readers conclude the journey in the 20th century to
witness Martin Luther King Jr. take up the language of natural rights to advance rights for African-Americans.
Together, these stories help students understand so-called “key terms” in ways no ordinary descriptive text can.

Greater Instructional Flexibility

Third, American Government: Stories of a Nation is adaptable to the approach that you want to use. This is not a
book that pushes a specific perspective or one that envisions a teacher as a repository of fact. These narratives allow
for an emphasis on institutions, behavior, or a combination of both. For example, two stories are used to present
the core concepts underlying a study of interest groups and social movements—one of the efforts of lobbyists in
the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, the other of Occupy Wall Street and its efforts to call attention to
economic inequality in the years following. They can be used to highlight the ways in which institutions structure
political action, the ways in which individuals make strategic choices in their efforts to solve problems of collective
action, or both.

The stories can also be used to focus on American political development, ideas, or an approach that focuses on
people, or their efforts to secure their own rights and liberties. In the Presidency chapter, for example, the
narrative surrounding President Obama’s order to use an unmanned drone to kill an American citizen in Yemen

26
without trial, Anwar Al-Awlaki, could facilitate a deeper conversation about the institutional powers of the
modern presidency, of the rights of Americans in times of war, or both.

In addition, the variety of sources used to present the material in the book—textual, visual, and data-based—as
well as the self-assessment tools, make the content accessible to students with a variety of learning strengths. As a
teacher, that kind of book is what I always wanted, but I never found one that completely fulfilled that promise.
That is another reason that I wrote it.

Greater Inclusiveness
The fourth reason is just as important and closely connected to the narrative approach in this book. In spite of
efforts by the authors, editors, and publishers of American government textbooks to address the diversity of
Americans’ lived experiences, the majority of books on the market do not fully embrace that diversity. A mounting
body of scholarship analyzing the text, image, content, and context of those works arrives at strikingly similar
conclusions: depictions and considerations of members of traditionally marginalized groups are sparse and, when
presented, placed in a specific set of chapters and topics. Covering the struggle of African-Americans to achieve
civil rights in a chapter on civil rights, for example, makes perfect sense. But it doesn’t make sense that that would
be the only place we’d hear stories of other political actions taken by African-American people or others with
similarly marginalized coverage in texts. An exploration of political campaigns and elections, for example, becomes
more immediate through a thoughtful examination of the ways in which political parties are struggling to attract
the Latino vote (and questioning the existence of such a monolithic entity), and efforts by Latino candidates
themselves, in an era of profound demographic change.

In this book, diversity is not a list of boxes to check off. Americans’ diverse identities have powerfully shaped
political processes and outcomes even when not successful in any given struggle. It includes a broad vision of the
diversity of Americans’ lived experiences, including the reality that any one American may have multiple
conceptions of their own identities, and that those self-understandings shape their participation in the political
process. Through the power of narrative and of stories, my goal is that all students—reading and using this book
—will find that they are also a part of the American experience, whether or not their voices have been heard.

27
The Organization of the Book
By now you’ve noticed that American Government: Stories of a Nation approaches American politics a little bit
differently than other introductory textbooks. Still, if you look at the table of contents, you’ll see that the text
covers everything you’d expect and require in a book that primes your students for future engagement in the
political world, or, if we’re lucky, future study in the field. You’ll also notice that this book covers topics having to
do with political participation and behavior before it covers institutions, which is a natural outgrowth of the fact
that we highlight the role that real people have played in the development of our government—although the
chapters could certainly be assigned out of order to suit your preferences.

In Part I, Chapters 1-5, therefore, cover foundations beginning with an introduction to the central themes in
American politics (Chapter 1), then covering the Constitution (Chapter 2), federalism (Chapter 3), civil liberties
(Chapter 4), and civil rights (Chapter 5). Chapters 6-10, Part II, Political Behavior and Mass Politics, covers
participation (Chapter 6), public opinion (Chapter 7), the media (Chapter 8), parties (Chapter 9), campaigns and
elections (Chapter 10), and interest groups and social movements (Chapter 11). The chapters in Part III cover
political institutions: Congress (Chapter 12), the presidency (Chapter 13), bureaucracy (Chapter 14), and the
judiciary (Chapter 15). The last section covers policy with Chapter 16 on domestic social policy, Chapter 17 on
economic policy, and Chapter 18 on foreign policy.

What may be less obvious at a glance is that the organization within each chapter differs from your standard
textbook. Each chapter in Stories of a Nation begins with an extended narrative that sets up and integrates the
subject matter that follows, subject matter that is tied to four to six learning objectives. The nuts and bolts sections
that follow the initial narrative refer back to that story, with figures, tables, and images chosen to connect the
narrative with the subject matter. Each major section concludes with a set of quiz questions (with answers) to
reinforce the learning.

In some chapters, one central narrative is sustained throughout. When the core material demands it, two, or
occasionally three, narratives contribute, to avoid having to “force” one story to convey what may be a bit more
disparate set of concepts. The conclusion ties everything together, helping students to reflect deeply upon the
subject matter and the questions raised in each chapter.

How does this approach work in practice? In Chapter 7, for example, on Public Opinion, I focus the narrative on
the aftermath of the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The basic question is
this: has public opinion about the way that African-Americans are treated by police changed since that event and
others related to it?

The chapter begins by setting up the story, focusing on the one-year anniversary of the tragic event. Learning
objectives guide students to a full set of issues that political scientists consider when presenting the topic of
American public opinion--assessing the components and formation of opinions, ways of measuring it, patterns of
change in people’s attitudes, and the larger meaning and impact of public opinion in American democracy. The
nuts and bolts section that follows explores debates over the stability, coherence, and meaning of public opinion.
Following a quiz on the material in the previous section, we return to the fallout from Ferguson, only this time
with a detailed exploration (including figures with data representing public opinion surveys) of divisions in
opinion over the meanings of the event and the protests that followed. After another brief check in on
comprehension, we dive into the ways in which public opinion is measured, its importance to representative
democracy, and the challenges inherent in scientific polling, followed again, with a short check on comprehension.

A section on political socialization fuses the narrative and the research-based content into one section, with an in-
depth consideration (again with figures) of the partisan divides in opinion on the core issues of race and policing.
A narrative section on political leaders’ responses to the events ties public opinion to democratic representation,
again with a quick concept assessment. The chapter concludes with a section that challenges students to continue
to explore the meanings of public opinion. Finally, like every chapter, this one also has a comprehensive guide for
review that connects the learning objectives, take-home points of the stories, major political science themes, and

28
key terms, to help students confirm that they have fully comprehended the chapter.

As you can see, no political science content gets “lost” at the expense of the narrative—and with plenty of built-in
guidance, no student gets lost in the narrative.

29
Another random document with
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 Not of wars and wars’ alarms,
Yours the songs of woman’s charms,
Your tones silk-fitting rosy lips
From which the kissing lyric slips.

When he limped along the trail

That his wild men might not fail
Of the sacrament which saves
And lights the shadowed way of graves
Did the halt monk, thinking how
His Saint Francis on the bough
Gathered all the gracious birds,
Preached to them the gospel’s words,
Still his earnest heart to hear
Your lover-calls sing out their cheer,
And for one heart-beat clean forgot
The Christ-fervor of his thought,
Hearing words that thrilled his soul
Ere he wore the hallowed stole,
Among red roses there in Spain
Where he’ll never walk again?

But these tongues you cannot speak,

Hebrew, Latin, Spanish, Greek;
’Tis in Anglo-Saxon tongue
Your name-calls are sweetly sung.

If from Saxon land you hail,

Not the Mayflower was your sail;
But some daring Cavalier
Loved your song and brought you here,—
Fervid, knightly, militant,
Still his heart your raptures chant;
And from his sorrows maybe came
Your minors, wavering like flame
Which marked the ashes that remain
When wild men have burned and slain;
 In your tones the Southern tongue,
Chivalry forever young,
Love the only noble theme
When we’re waking, when we dream?

But your secret still allures,

Whence came those sweetheart names of yours?

You, the American of birds,

You are singing English words;
So where Shakespeare’s tongue we speak
There your secret we must seek.

But your name? that tells it all;

Changes to your tongue befall,
And you can speak each language new
Or sing the last light wind that blew;
You hearken, and new gossipings
Are music-scattered by your wings;
You overhear and feel no shames;
And call out loud the lovers’ names.

In some dear later days you heard

This you sing in true love’s word.

I think that in our war’s some year

Your throat was taught these words so dear;
When Grant’s and Lee’s were names of dread,
Where billowed fields with sweetheart dead.

Your “Peter! Peter,” there you learned

As “Gertie! Gertie” to him yearned.
It was a time when sorrow rent
Full many a heart of sweet content.

’Twas beneath sweet Southern pines;

They walked softly on the spines,
While you, silent, on your nest
 Heard these names, and all the rest
Which passioned from their lips that time
You caught their name-calls in your rhyme;
E’en that night ’neath star-bright skies
Your joy-song sang their sweet Good-bys.

You’re an emigrant, as we;

Other states our birth-states be,
And we bring out memories here,
Bright with smile, or darked with tear;
So in California’s sun
Sings your song, back there begun.

But do you know, O song-heart brave,

That Peter’s in an unknown grave,
Where the Rappahannock flows;
No more fearing war’s dread blows?
And not a mound to mark the place
Where went out his sweetheart face;
And not a bough where some song-mate
Might his hero deeds relate,
And recall in bird-sweet lay
How called he Gertie’s name that day?

And Gertie grieved where the lagoons

Sluggish gulfward with their tunes,
And with breaking heart grew old
Waiting for her soldier bold,—
Dying lonely, lonely past,
Calling “Peter” to the last.

Where she’s resting no one notes,

Save your song-mates with sweet throats.

Do you know? Is that the note

Which sometimes saddens from your throat,
And makes my heart slow down a throb,
And my words hush in a sob?
That’s the Gertie, that’s the Peter
Who go rapturing through your meter!
Since within your song they live
Where skies such sunny brightness give,
Maybe in the Sky of skies
Love calls, hearing love’s replies;
Through some angel-mocking bird
All the earth-old sweetness heard,—
Gertie! Peter! still as dear
As when called their love-names here?

So our thoughts, as your fleet wings

Above the dark earth lightly springs,
Think that skies of brightness say,
“Love is love for aye and aye!”
And this Gertie and this Peter
Gentles love through angel-meter,
Which the grace of God outrhymes,
Calling, calling endless times!

When “Gertie,” “Peter” you so lift

As if the very stars you’d sift,
Down to their souls to voice their bliss,
O mocking-birds, do you know this?

A JOLLY GOOD FRIENDSHIP IS BETTER THAN ALL

(A BALLADE)
By Henry Meade Bland

You may travel in China, Luzon, or Japan;

Or lodge on the plains of the Ultimate West;
You may lounge at your ease on a rich divan;
And drink of red wine at a king’s behest,
Then lie by the hour in slumberous rest,
And be of deep joy a subservient thrall,
Yet awake with a feel that is clearly confessed,
 That a jolly good friendship is better than all!

You may sail from your home-port a half-a-world span,

And touch the Sweet Isle with joy in your breast;
You may sing as you sail, and shout as you scan
The white airy foam-flakes that ride the fair crest
Of orient wave: but, truly the test
Of laughters and pleasures that come at a call
Is fellowship rising in full easy zest—
A jolly good friendship is better than all!

You may listen to Melba or Sembrich and plan

With a five-dollar note to corner the best
Of Caruso’s high-piping; and be in the van
Of those who would fain with great Patti be blest:
But you’ll learn when you come to the end of your quest,
And find that the sweetest in cabin or hall,
No matter what note or what harmony stressed,
The lilt of good friendship is better than all!

ENVOI

Aye, rarer than any rare vintage e’er pressed

For banqueter merry or bold bacchanal;
Aye, better than nectar e’er dream of or guessed—
A jolly good fellowship is better than all.

THE TRAILMAN
(Lines written in 1909 in honor of John Muir)
By Henry Meade Bland

A spirit that pulses forever like the fiery heart of a boy;

A forehead that lifts to the sunlight and is wreathed forever in joy;
A muscle that holds like the iron that binds in the prisoner steam;
Yea, these are the Trailman’s glory; Yea, these are the Trailman’s
dream!
An eye that catches the splendor as it shines from mountain and sky;
And an ear that awakes to the song of the storm as it surges on high;
A sense that garners the beauty of sun, moon, or starry gleam;
Lo, these are the Trailman’s glory; Lo, these are the Trailman’s
dream!

The wild, high climb o’er the mountain, the lodge by the river’s brim;
The glance at the great cloud-horses, as they plunge o’er the range’s
rim;
The juniper’s balm for the nostril, the dash in the cool trout stream;
Yea, these are the Trailman’s glory; Yea, these are the Trailman’s
dream!

The ride up the wild river-canyon where the wild oats grow breast
high;
The shout of the quail on the hillside; the turtle dove flashing by;
An eve round the fragrant fire, and the tales of heroic theme;
Lo, these are the Trailman’s glory; Lo, these are the Trailman’s
dream!

THE HYMN OF THE WIND

By Howard V. Sutherland

I am the Wind, whom none can ever conquer;

I am the Wind, whom none may ever bind.
The One who fashion’d ye,
He, too, has fashion’d me—
He gave to me dominion o’er the air.
Go where ye will, and ye shall ever find
Me singing, ever free,
Over land and over sea,
From the fire-belted Tropics to the Poles.

I am the Wind. I sing the glad Spring’s coming;

I bid the leaves burst forth and greet the sun.
I lure the modest bloom
 From out the soil-sweet gloom;
I bid the wild-bird leave the drowsy South.
My loves are violets. By my pure kisses won,
They spring from earth, and smile,
All-innocent, the while
I woo them in the aisles of pensive woods.

I am the Wind. From dew-pearl’d heights of wonder

I fall like music on the listening wheat.
My hands disturb its calm
Till, like a joyous psalm,
Its swaying benediction greets the sky.
I kiss the pines that brood where seldom falls
The solace of the light,
And the hush’d voice of Night
Soothes the awed mountains in their somber dreams.

I am the Wind. I see enorme creations

Starring the vault above ye, and below.
Where bide the Seraphim
In silent places dim
I pass, and tell your coming in the end.
Omniscient I, eternal; and I know
The gleaming destiny
That waits ye, being free,
When ye have pass’d the border-line of Death.

I am the Wind—the Lord God’s faithful servant;

’Twixt earth and sky I wander, and I know
His Sign is ever found
The blue-veil’d earth around,
As on the furthest spheres that whirl in space,
All things are His; and all things slowly go
Through manifold degrees
Of marvelous mysteries,
From life to highest life, from highest life to Him.

I am the Wind. I know that all is tending

To that bright end; and ye, through years of toil
Shall reach at last the height
Where Freedom is, and Light;
And ye shall find new paths that still lead up.
Be free as I; be patient and have faith;
And when your scroll is writ
And God shall pass on it,
Ye need not fear to face Him—He is Love.

DRIFTING
By Thomas Buchanan Read

My soul to-day
Is far away,
Sailing the Vesuvian Bay;
My wingèd boat,
A bird afloat,
Swims round the purple peaks remote:—

Round purple peaks

It sails and seeks
Blue inlets and their crystal creeks,
Where high rocks throw,
Through deeps below,
A duplicated golden glow.

Far, vague and dim

The mountains swim;
While on Vesuvius’ misty brim,
With outstretched hands,
The gray smoke stands
O’erlooking the volcanic lands.

Here Ischia smiles

O’er liquid miles;
And yonder, bluest of the isles,
 Calm Capri waits,
Her sapphire gates
Beguiling to her bright estates.

I heed not, if
My rippling skiff
Float swift or slow from cliff to cliff;—
With dreamful eyes
My spirit lies
Under the walls of Paradise.

Under the walls

Where swells and falls
The Bay’s deep breast at intervals
At peace I lie,
Blown softly by,
A cloud upon this liquid sky.

The day, so mild,

Is Heaven’s own child,
With Earth and Ocean reconciled;—
The airs I feel
Around me steal
Are murmuring to the murmuring keel.

Over the rail

My hand I trail
Within the shadow of the sail,
A joy intense,
The cooling sense
Glides down my drowsy indolence.

With dreamful eyes

My spirit lies
Where Summer sings and never dies,—
O’erveiled with vines,
She glows and shines
Among her future oil and wines.
 Her children, hid
The cliffs amid,
Are gamboling with the gamboling kid;
Or down the walls,
With tipsy calls,
Laugh on the rocks like waterfalls.

The fisher’s child,

With tresses wild,
Unto the smooth, bright sand beguiled,
With glowing lips
Sings as she skips,
Or gazes at the far-off ships.

Yon deep bark goes

Where traffic blows,
From lands of sun to lands of snows;—
This happier one,
Its course is run
From lands of snow to lands of sun.

O happy ship,
To rise and dip,
With the blue crystal at your lip!
O happy crew,
My heart with you
Sails, and sails, and sings anew!

No more, no more
The worldly shore
Upbraids me with its loud uproar;
With dreamful eyes
My spirit lies
Under the walls of Paradise!

JOHN ANDERSON, MY JO
 By Robert Burns

John Anderson, my jo, John,

When we were first acquent,
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonnie brow was brent;
But now your brow is beld, John,
Your locks are like the snaw;
But blessing on your frosty pow,
John Anderson, my jo.

John Anderson, my jo, John,

We clamb the hill together;
And monie a canty day, John,
We’ve had wi’ ane anither;
Now we maun totter down, John,
But hand in hand we’ll go;
And sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson, my jo.

RECESSIONAL
By Rudyard Kipling

God of our fathers, known of old—

Lord of our far-flung battle-line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies—

The captains and the kings depart,
Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
Far-called, our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire;
Lo! all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If drunk with sight of power, we loose

Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe—
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,
Or lesser breeds, without the law—
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts its trust

In reeking tube, and iron shard—
All valiant dust, that builds on dust,
And guarding call not Thee to guard—
For frantic boast and foolish word,
Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord!

MY COUNTRY
By Robert Whitaker

My country is the world; I count

No son of man my foe,
Whether the warm life-currents mount
And mantle brows like snow
Or red or yellow, brown or black,
The face that into mine looks back.

My native land is Mother Earth,

And all men are my kin,
Whether of rude or gentle birth,
However steeped in sin;
Or rich, or poor, or great, or small,
I count them brothers, one and all.

My birthplace is no spot apart,

I claim no town nor State;
Love hath a shrine in every heart,
And wheresoe’er men mate
To do the right and say the truth,
Love evermore renews her youth.

My flag is the star-spangled sky,

Woven without a seam,
Where dawn and sunset colors lie,
Fair as an angel’s dream;
The flag that still, unstained, untorn,
Floats over all of mortal born.

My party is all human-kind,

My platform brotherhood;
I count all men of honest mind
Who work for human good,
And for the hope that gleams afar,
My comrades in this holy war.

My heroes are the great and good

Of every age and clime,
Too often mocked, misunderstood,
And murdered in their time;
But spite of ignorance and hate
Known and exalted soon or late.

My country is the world; I scorn

No lesser love than mine,
But calmly wait that happy morn
When all shall own this sign,
And love of country as of clan,
Shall yield to world-wide love of man.
 SOMEWHERE ADOWN THE YEARS
By Robert Whitaker

Somewhere adown the years there waits a man

Who shall give wings to what my soul has said:
Shall speak for me when I am mute and dead;
And shall perfect the work I but began.

What matter, therefore, if my word to-day

Falls on unwilling ears, finds few to praise?
Since some mere child, in his incipient days,
That word may win to walk a prophet’s way?

And he, of greater gift, more favored state,

Shall speak to thousands where I speak to one:
Shall do the work that I would fain have done;
Helped to that fortune at my lonely gate.

Perchance some Saul of Tarsus, hating me,

And hating mine while yet misunderstood,
Stung by my word shall some day find it good,
And bear it broadcast over land and sea.

Or some Saint Augustine, of careless mien,

Giving himself to sensuous pleasures now,
Shall catch the glory from his mother’s brow
That in some word of mine her soul hath seen.

Nay, but I claim no honor as my own

That is not equally the goal for all
Who run with truth, and care not though it fall
That they must sometimes run with her alone.

God will not suffer any word to fail

That is not uttered for the hour’s success:
No word that has in it the power to bless
Shall lack the means to make it of avail.
Who speaks the people’s weal shall some day find
Voices to bear it to the people’s will.
However potent be the present ill
They who assail it are to-morrow’s kind.

And that to-morrow shall uphold their cause

Who fell not for the plaudits of to-day:
Those who are reckoned rebels in their day
Are always makers of to-morrow’s laws.

Our present skeptics voice to-morrow’s faith;

To-day’s disturbers bring to-morrow’s peace:
’Tis they who dare to die who win release
For all their fellows from the fear of death.

SERENADE
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Stars of the summer night!

Far in your azure deeps,
Hide, hide your golden light!
She sleeps!
My lady sleeps!
Sleeps!

Moon of the summer night!

Far down yon western steeps,
Sink, sink in silver light!
She sleeps!
My lady sleeps!
Sleeps!

Wind of the summer night!

Where yonder woodbine creeps,
Fold, fold thy pinions light!
She sleeps!
My lady sleeps!
 Sleeps!

Dreams of the summer night!

Tell her, her lover keeps
Watch, while in slumbers light
She sleeps!
My lady sleeps!
Sleeps!

THE BROOKSIDE
By Richard Monckton Milnes

I wandered by the brookside,

I wandered by the mill;
I could not hear the brook flow,—
The noisy wheel was still.
There was no burr of grasshopper,
No chirp of any bird,
But the beating of my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.

I sat beneath the elm-tree:

I watched the long, long shade,
And, as it grew longer,
I did not feel afraid;
For I listened for a footfall,
I listened for a word,—
But the beating of my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.

He came not,—no, he came not,—

The night came on alone,—
The little stars sat one by one,
Each on his golden throne;
The evening wind passed by my cheek,
The leaves above were stirred,—
But the beating of my own heart
Was all the sound I heard.

Fast, silent tears were flowing,

When something stood behind:
A hand was on my shoulder,—
I knew its touch was kind:
It drew me nearer—nearer—
We did not speak one word,
For the beating of our own hearts
Was all the sound we heard.

THE SPINNING-WHEEL SONG

By John Francis Waller

Mellow the moonlight to shine is beginning;

Close by the window young Eileen is spinning;
Bent o’er the fire, her blind grandmother, sitting,
Is groaning, and moaning, and drowsily knitting,—
“Eileen, achora, I hear some one tapping.”
“’Tis the ivy, dear mother, against the glass flapping.”
“Eileen, I surely hear somebody sighing.”
“’Tis the sound, mother dear, of the summer wind dying.”
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the reel, while the foot’s stirring;
Sprightly, and lightly, and airily ringing,
Thrills the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.

“What’s that noise that I hear at the window, I wonder?”

“’Tis the little birds chirping the holly-bush under.”
“What makes you be shoving and moving your stool in,
And singing all wrong that old song of ‘The Coolin’?’”
There’s a form at the casement,—the form of her true love,—
And he whispers, with face bent, “I’m waiting for you, love;
Get up on the stool, through the lattice step lightly,
We’ll rove in the grove while the moon’s shining brightly.”
Merrily, cheerily, noisily whirring,
Swings the wheel, spins the reel, while the foot’s stirring;
Sprightly, and lightly, and airily ringing,
Thrills the sweet voice of the young maiden singing.

The maid shakes her head, on her lip lays her fingers,
Steals up from her seat,—longs to go, and yet lingers;
A frightened glance turns to her drowsy grandmother,
Puts one foot on the stool, and spins the wheel with the other.
Lazily, easily, swings now the wheel round;
Slowly and lowly is heard now the reel’s sound;
Noiseless and light to the lattice above her
The maid steps,—then leaps to the arms of her lover.
Slower—and slower—and slower the wheel swings;
Lower—and lower—and lower the reel rings;
Ere the reel and the wheel stop their ringing and moving,
Through the grove the young lovers by moonlight are roving.

DOWN THE LANE

By Clinton Scollard

Down the lane, as I went humming, humming,

Who should I see coming
But May Marjory!
“What was that I heard you humming, humming,
As you saw me coming?
Prithee, tell!” said she.

“Oh,” I smiled, “I was just humming, humming,

As I saw you coming
Where boughs met above,—
And the crickets kept on thrumming, thrumming,
As I saw you coming,—
Something about love!”
Ah, her blush it was becoming—coming,
As I kept on humming
 While we walked along,
And the crickets still were strumming, strumming,
As I kept on humming
That low strain of song.

Drooped her eyes as I continued humming;

Ah, ’twas so becoming
To May Marjory!
Then she raised them, and my heart went thrumming,
Though I kept on humming;
“You’re a dear!” said she.

—From Judge.

THE MOUNTAIN MIST

By Hesper Le Gallienne

I am the mist and the lover of mountains,

I, like a scarf, waft and wave in the breeze;
I am the sister of streams and of fountains,
Born ’neath the roots of the flowers and the trees.
Wayward and free
Listen to me—
I am the Now and the Never-to-Be!

Slowly I rise in the cool of the gloaming,

Softly I creep through the grass and the leaves,
Over the river, on past the men homing,
Men living lives midst the fruit and the sheaves,
Airy and light,
Filmy and white,
I come when Daytime is kissing the Night.

I am the Question, so luring, so cunning,

Yet, when you answer, the Answer is—none!
For, when you watch me skipping and running
Yet, when you catch me, you find I am—gone!
 Catch if you can!
Never there ran
Any so fast, be they maiden or man.

THE LOOM OF LIFE

Anonymous

All day, all night, I can hear the jar

Of the loom of life; and near and far
It thrills with its deep and muffled sound,
As the tireless wheels go always round.
Busily, ceaselessly goes the loom
In the light of day and the midnight’s gloom.
The wheels are turning early and late,
And the woof is wound in the warp of fate.
Click! Clack! there’s a thread of love wove in!
Click! Clack! and another of wrong and sin!

What a checkered thing this life will be,

When we see it unrolled in eternity!
Time, with a face like a mystery,
And hands as busy as hands can be,
Sits at the loom with its warp outspread,
To catch in its meshes each glancing thread.
When shall this wonderful web be done?
In a thousand years, perhaps, or one,
Or to-morrow, who knoweth? Not you nor I,
But the wheels turn on, and the shuttles fly.

Ah, sad-eyed weaver, the years are slow,

But each one is nearer the end, I know.
And some day the last thread shall be wove in,
God grant it be love instead of sin.
Are we spinners of woof for this life web, say?
Do we furnish the weavers a thread each day?
It were better then, O my friend, to spin