A study of public administration in the United States during the administrations of Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy Adams.

Thomas Jefferson and the Administrative System -- The State of the Nation -- The Presidency -- The President and Congress: Institutional Developments -- The President and the Administrative System -- The President and the Cabinet -- Congress and the Administrative System -- Congress and the Control of Expenditures -- Congress and Administrative Reform -- The Treasury -- The Collectors -- Accountability: Paralysis and Reform -- The State Department -- The Domestic Business of the State Department -- The War Department -- The Army Supply System -- The War Department and the Army -- West Point and the Army Engineers -- The Navy -- The Navy Ashore -- The Post Office -- Postmasters and Contractors -- The Office of the Attorney General -- Personnel Administration: Theory and Practice -- Public Service Careers -- The Cloud on the Horizon -- Jonathan Chooses to Live Snug -- Public Service Ethics -- The Embargo: An Experiment in Peaceable Coercion -- End of the Experiment -- Internal Improvements -- "In Regions Wide and Wild": the Management of Indian Affairs -- Disposition of the Public Lands -- Administrative Dualism: The Case of the Militia: Republican Achievements in Administration.