The Evolving Presidency: Addresses, Cases, Essays, Letters, Reports, Resolutions, Transcripts, and Other Landmark Documents, 1787-2004

The ideal primary documents reader for any history or political science course focusing on the presidency. This fascinating–and very affordable–collection of 50 primary source documents offers a compact yet broad-based look at the development of the executive office. With judicious editing and contextual headnotes by Michael Nelson, students get a look at both the personalities and ideas that have shaped the institution, as well as insight into significant cases and events that play pivotal roles in American legal, political, and constitutional history. Based on extensive feedback from users, the second edition includes 9 new selections that feature both historical and recent pieces–from Lincoln’s second inaugural address to the Bush Doctrine–dramatically showing students how presidents chart U.S. history.