Constituency Democracy in the Progressive Era: Referenda and House Roll Call Votes

在这项调查中，研究人员评估了现代的美国民主国家是如何在20世纪初建立在州和联邦政府各级政府立法政策的基础上的。基层公投选票被收集起来，作为衡量选区问题立场的一种手段，并与众议院议员随后就相同或类似问题进行的唱名表决相关联地进行审查。对福利、政府管理和民权政策等广泛问题的分析表明，众议院议员在党派竞争和冲突的调解下，对选民的暗示做出反应，确实具有将最初在州一级提出和实施的进步社会政策转移到联邦一级的效果。虽然许多人认为新政是现代的开始，但这项研究揭示了本世纪上半叶考虑的丰富的州级立法如何为现代联邦政策计划提供了至关重要的先例。我们不仅对国会在这几十年中的运作有了更好的了解，而且立法和代表程序在制定进步政策方面的中心地位也是显而易见的，平衡了在这一时期对法院和政党作用的更常见的关注。除了将一个相对被忽视的时期--进步时代--融入到国会的研究和我们现代国家的发展中，这个项目还引入了一种新的方法，通过基层全民投票来研究州和联邦各级之间总体上的政策一致性。作为这项研究的结果，使用全民投票在当代国会研究中的适用性将是显而易见的，从而为调查州和联邦各级之间的政策联系开辟了新的视角。

In this investigation the researcher assesses how the modern, American democratic state is founded at the beginning of the twentieth century on the basis of legislative policies initiated at the state and federal levels of government. Grass-root referenda votes are collected and used as a measure of constituency issue positions and are examined in relation to subsequent roll call voting by House members on the same or similar issues. The analysis of a wide range of issues, including welfare, government management, and civil rights policies, illustrates that House members' responses to the cues of their constituents, mediated by partisan competition and conflict, do have the effect of transferring progressive social policies first proposed and implemented at the state-level to that of the federal-level. While many view the New Deal as the beginning of the modern era, this research reveals how the rich multitude of state-level legislation considered in the earlier part of this century provides crucial precedents for modern, federal policy programs. Not only do we gain a better understanding of how Congress operates in these decades, but the centrality of legislative and representative processes for the establishment of progressive policies is evident, balancing the more usual attention directed to the role of courts and parties in this time period. In addition to integrating a relatively neglected time period, the Progressive Era, into the study of Congress and development of our modern state, this project also introduces a new method for studying policy congruence in general between the state and federal levels by means of grass.root referenda votes. As a result of this research, the applicability of using referenda votes in studies of contemporary congresses will be apparent, thereby opening up new perspectives for investigating policy connections between state and federal levels.