The American Geographical Society was the pre-eminent geographical society in the nineteenth-century U.S. This book explores how geographical knowledge and practices took shape as a civic enterprise, under the leadership of Charles P. Daly, AGS president for 35 years (1864-1899). The ideals and programmatic interests of the AGS link to broad institutional, societal, and spatial contexts that drove interest in geography itself in the post-Civil War period, and also link to Charles Daly's personal role as New York civic leader, scholar, revered New York judge, and especially, popularizer of geography. Daly's leadership in a number of civic and social reform causes resonated closely with his work as geographer, such as his influence in tenement housing and street sanitation reform in New York City. Others of his projects served commercial interests, including in American railroad development and colonization of the African Congo. Daly was also New York's most influential access point to the Arctic in the latter nineteenth century. Through telling the story of the nineteenth-century AGS and Charles Daly, this book provides a critical appraisal of the role of particular actors, institutions, and practices involved in the development and promotion of geography in the mid-nineteenth century U.S. that is long overdue.

Anläßlich des 300. Gründungsjubiläums des Halleschen Waisenhauses veranstaltete das Interdisziplinäre Zentrum für Pietismusforschung der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg in Verbindung mit den Franckeschen Stiftungen vom 21. bis 23. September 1998 ein internationales Kolloquium. In den Beiträgen wurde die Bedeutung des nach niederländischen Vorbildern konzipierten Halleschen Waisenhauses im Kontext zeitgenössischer Anstalten der Armen- und Waisenpflege konturiert. Die Publikation ermöglicht eine umfassendere Analyse des vielschichtigen Spannungsfeldes ordnungspolitischer, wirtschaftlich-merkantilistischer und religiös-caritativer Motivationen und Institutionalisierungen sowie eine präzisere Bestimmung der Bedeutung des Pietismus in diesem Zusammenhang.

Recalling Tocqueville's exhortation for the French to "look to America" for a better understanding of their own government, John Rohr returns the favor by revealing how much we can learn about American constitutionalism from a close study of French governance. The French and American republics both emerged from the same revolutionary era and share a common commitment to separation of powers, rule of law, and republicanism. Even so, the two constitutional traditions are quite different. France, after all, has replaced its constitution at least thirteen times since 1789, while the American constitution has endured essentially intact. Yet, as Rohr shows, French constitutionalism merits our careful attention. Focusing upon the founding of the French Fifth Republic and the drafting of its constitution, Rohr compares the nations' divergent approaches to executive, legislative, and judicial power; independent administrative authority and discretion; and the relation of administrative law to statutory law. His analysis of France's divided versus our unified executive, the two presidents' exceptional powers, and their influence on the legislative process provides particularly fresh insights into how the two constitutional traditions promote and inhibit the capacity for administrative action. Rohr shows that French administrative institutions are much more thoroughly developed than their American counterparts due to recurrent presidential and constitutional crises. Without such a strong public administration, daily life in France would likely be extremely unstable if not quite chaotic. The proper role of the French institutions, he suggests, is largely determined by their relationship to elected officials whereas their American counterparts are essentially shaped by the constitutional order. A model for future comparative work in constitutional law and public administration, Rohr's study should help us see that the constitutional path we've pursued wasn't the only possibility—and why we've chosen that route nevertheless. As such, it should have great appeal for students, teachers, and practitioners in U.S. and French law, politics, and public administration.