ABSTRACT
Throughout much of the twentieth century, political scientists have held that the modern Congress was a fundamentally different legislative body than it had been in earlier historical periods. While there is no denying that Congress has changed in important ways throughout its history, this conventional view of the premodern Congress led scholars to infer that certain theoretical perspectives that were pervasive in work on the modern Congress could not be applied to these earlier periods. Over the last two decades, however, congressional scholars have added considerably to our knowledge about the historical Congress and marshalled new evidence that invites us to re-evaluate these earlier conclusions about the politics of the historical Congress. A common theme throughout this scholarship is that despite notable differences between the early and modern Congress, there are also important similarities between congressional politics in each era. One reasonable conclusion, therefore, is that the differences between the politics of the historical and modern Congresses may simply be one of degrees.
