"Government is no holiday affair": U.S. public opinion and the rethinking of the American State (1870-1900)

The article analyses the political and cultural debate emerging through academic reviews and cultural and literary magazines from the 1870s to the 1890s, where the focus was on the transformation of the state in light of the rise of the United States as an economic power. While both academic and cultural publications tended to emphasise the exceptional nature of the U.S. republican experiment, they also raised critical questions regarding the desirability—and indeed necessity—of adapting to new and often unprecedented challenges impacting the economic and political future of American society. The debate consistently addressed not only domestic issues but also international dynamics, particularly in the 1890s when social scientists and public intellectuals increasingly directed their attention to the evolving role of the United States within the changing international system.