First volume in a trilogy, of which the second is "The Jeffersonians", and the third is "The Jacksonians".

The Course of Government, 1789-1801 -- "An Efficient and Responsable Executive" -- Washington and His Assistants -- The Duty to Consult -- The Executive Impulse -- Congress Resists -- Congress Reaches Out -- Federalist and Republican Theories of the Executive Power -- George Washington as an Administrator -- The Treasury -- The Department of State -- War: "A Difficult and Unpopular Department" -- The Navy Department -- The Attorney General: "A Sort of Mongrel" -- The General Post Office -- Trouble on the Post Road -- Internal Departmental Control -- Interdepartmental Relations -- The Hamilton-Jefferson Feud -- The Hamilton-Adams Conflict -- "Fitness of Character": Public Service Ideals -- Ideals and Practice -- The Rule of Parsimony -- Some Civil Servants -- Notes on Prestige -- Appropriations: Executive Freedom or Legislative Restraint -- Getting and Spending -- Debts and Claims -- The Purveyor of the United States -- Government in the Wilderness -- Federal-State Administrative Relations -- The Law Enforcement Machinery -- The Statutory Law of Officers -- Administrative Powers and Sanctions -- Administrative Discretion -- The Problem of Smuggling -- The State of the Administrative Art -- The Problem of Communications -- Administrative Housekeeping -- The Administrative Theory and Achievements of the Federalists.