The Ideological Development of US Government Publication, 1820-1920: From Jefferson to Croly

This paper traces the development of an ideology for US government publication, focusing primarily on dominant strands of political thought during the antebellum period, the gilded age, and the progressive era. This paper examines political thought that inhibited the development of an ideology of US government publication, such as the antistatism of Thomas Jefferson and the Social Darwinism of Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner; it focuses also on American political thought that fostered its development, such as the Positivism of Lester Frank Ward, the Pragmatism of John Dewey, and the Progressivism of Herbert Croly.