Charles Merriam

Charles Merriam was a longtime professor of political science at the University of Chicago, a political activist, and advisor to president FDR.

Quotes

“

One of the striking features of the last half century in America was the greatly increased attention to the scientific study of politics. In the last twenty-five years, particularly, this tendency was very clearly marked. The foundation of systematic study was laid by Francis Lieber, a German refugee, who came to America following the Revolution of 1848, and was for many years a source of inspiration in inquiry and a teacher of methods of investigation. Following Lieber came studies of the type of Mulford's "Nation" (1870), a striking illustration of the intoxicating effect of undiluted Hegelian philosophy upon the American mind.

”

“

The individualistic ideas of the “natural right” school of political theory, indorsed in the Revolution, are discredited and repudiated.

”

Works

• A History of American Political Theories. New York: MacMillan, 1903.
• American Political Ideas: Studies in the Development of American Political Thought 1865-1917 New York: MacMillan, 1920.
• The American Party System: An Introduction to the Study of Political Parties in the United States. New York: MacMillan, 1922.
• Non-Voting: Causes and Methods of Control. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1924.
• New Aspects of Politics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1925.
• The Making of Citizens: A Comparative Study of Methods of Civic Training. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1931.
• Civic Education in the United States. New York: Scribner, 1934.