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Dewitt Clinton and the Origin of the Spoils System in New York by Howard McBain Lee, first published in 1907, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

Dougherty, J. Hampden. Constitutional History of the State of New York. New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1915. 408 pp. Reprinted 2004 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 2003056438. ISBN 1-58477-391-X. Cloth. $95. * Reprint of the second edition. Dougherty published this book while the 1915 state Constitutional Convention was taking place. He hoped it would influence public opinion and the members of the convention by describing how earlier constitutions fell short. Whether or not Dougherty achieved his stated purposes, this book remains a detailed and insightful study of the social and legal developments that shaped the state's constitutions since the seventeenth century.

The first biography in over half a century of New York's first governor and vice president under Jefferson and Madison, George Clinton analyzes the public career of this pivotal founder who has remained lost to history.

This work traces the historical processes in thought by which American political leaders slowly edged away from their complete philosophical rejection of a party and hesitantly began to embrace a party system. In the author's words, "The emergence of legitimate party opposition and of a theory of politics that accepted it was something new in the history of the world; it required a bold new act of understanding on the part of its contemporaries and it still requires study on our part." Professor Hofstadter's analysis of the idea of party and the development of legitimate opposition offers fresh insights into the political crisis of 1797-1801, on the thought of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Martin Van Buren, and other leading figures, and on the beginnings of modern democratic politics.