A History of American Legislatures, 1619-2024

“With this book, Squire pulls off a near-impossible feat.  In brief, broad strokes, he describes the central features of the American state, territorial, and national legislatures over more than 400 years of history.  The book is original, remarkably comprehensive, and encyclopedic in its level of detail.  Anyone interested in learning about the rich variety of American legislative institutions will find Squire’s latest book an invaluable starting point and indispensable reference.”—Gerald Gamm, University of Rochester, coauthor of Steering the Senate: The Emergence of Party Organization and Leadership, 1789–2024

“Squire has written an incredibly comprehensive and well-researched history of state legislatures. It's a joy to read and full of fascinating details— a definitive work that will be referred to by political scientists and historians for decades to come.”—Matthew Green, The Catholic University of America, coauthor of Newt Gingrich: The Rise and Fall of a Party Entrepreneur 

“A History of American Legislatures, 1619–2024, is a comprehensive guide to the evolution of the modern state legislature which increasingly plays a central role in citizens' lives.  Peverill Squire, the nation's leading scholar of state legislatures, has written a highly engaging book that presents historical facts, figures, and lively quotes from key political figures across time. The information in this book is presented efficiently with easy access to valuable tables that summarize historical trends across all 50 states.  Among the topics this book covers are the debates over where to locate a state capital, how many legislators should be in the State House and Senate, terms of office, salaries, districting, staffing, leadership, committees, legislative process, and political party control.  For students, scholars, teachers, and observers of politics, A History of American Legislatures is an essential part of your toolkit.”—Wendy Schiller, Brown University, author of Inequality Across State Lines: How Policymakers Have Failed Domestic Violence Victims in the United States

“Well-established as the most prominent scholar of state legislatures, Squire has outdone himself here. He combines specific and fascinating institutional details with fresh, wide-ranging perspectives; he highlights the similarities and the differences across state legislatures; and he draws attention to both the ways in which these bodies have remained the same and the ways in which they have evolved. Filled with fresh insights in every chapter, this magisterial book will be of interest to all scholars of legislatures, state politics, and political institutions more generally.” —Charles Shipan, University of Michigan, coauthor of Why Bad Policies Spread (and Good Ones Don’t)

“This book is a necessity for scholars of legislative politics in the United States. No other book provides such a comprehensive and statistical history of American legislatures and how they developed over time. Peverill Squire provides a history of legislatures in terms of various traits, including numbers of chambers, timing of elections, locations of capitols, and terms of office, among many others. The book is organized by topic. For any scholar of legislative politics, particularly anyone seeking to test theories of politics using historical data, Squire's book is unmatched in value.” —James Strickland, Florida State University 

“Peverill Squire has long been a major authority on American state legislatures, but in my view A History of American Legislatures, 1619-2024 is his most important contribution to this field. The book is informative, enlightening, and entertaining. Many key features of legislatures, most notably committee systems and voting procedures, are the product of structural imperatives. But as Squire shows here, other features arise from historical happenstance. Such is the case of bicameralism—an institutional innovation crafted by legislators in colonial Massachusetts, in the course of assessing liability for damages caused by a loose destructive pig. For students of American political history, this book is a must read.” —D. Roderick Kiewiet, California Institute of Technology, coauthor of The Logic of Delegation: Congressional Parties and the Appropriations Process