During the Progressive Era (1880-1920), leading thinkers and politicians transformed American politics. Historians and political scientists have given a great deal of attention to the progressives who effected this transformation. Yet relatively little is known about the conservatives who opposed these progressive innovations, despite the fact that they played a major role in the debates and outcomes of this period of American history. These early conservatives represent a now-forgotten source of inspiration for modern American conservatism. This volume gives these constitutional conservatives their first full explanation and demonstrates their ongoing relevance to contemporary American conservatism.

During the Progressive Era (1880-1920), leading thinkers and politicians transformed American politics. Historians and political scientists have given a great deal of attention to the progressives who effected this transformation. Yet relatively little is known about the conservatives who opposed these progressive innovations, despite the fact that they played a major role in the debates and outcomes of this period of American history. These early conservatives represent a now-forgotten source of inspiration for modern American conservatism. This volume gives these constitutional conservatives their first full explanation and demonstrates their ongoing relevance to contemporary American conservatism.

Introduction; Johnathan O'Neill and Joseph Postell 1. Constitutional Conservatism During the Progressive Era: The National Association for Constitutional Government and Constitutional Review; Johnathan O'Neill 2. The Progressive Origins of Conservative Hostility to Lochner v. New York; David E. Bernstein 3. William Howard Taft and the Struggle for the Soul of the Constitution; Sidney M. Milkis 4. The Election of 1912 and the Origins of Constitutional Conservatism; William Schambra 5. William Howard Taft on America and the Philippines: Equality, Natural Rights, and Imperialism; John Grant 6. Civilization versus Modernity: The League of Nations in the Crisis of World Civilization; W. Taylor Reveley 7. 'Roaring' against Progressivism: Calvin Coolidge's Principled Conservatism; Joseph Postell 8. Rational Compromise: Charles Evans Hughes as a Progressive Originalist; James R. Stoner, Jr. 9. The Two Phases of Herbert Hoover's Constitutional Conservatism; Gordon Lloyd and David Davenport Epilogue; Charles Kesler