Key points in development of the administrative state
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This page contains key events and policies that shaped the development of the administrative state, from Enlightenment ideals to the Progressive Era, New Deal, and later regulatory expansions, highlighting the growing role of federal agencies in governance.
The Age of Enlightenment (18th century)
The roots of the administrative state extend to the Age of Enlightenment and the corresponding French and American Revolutions. In the broadest terms, philosophers of the period embraced rational thought as the instrument of human improvement. During this time, individuals began to regard reason as intellectually superior to faith, including faith in religion and the social hierarchy of the period. Enlightenment thinkers embraced the idea that reason could drive human improvement by giving individuals the tools to make the best decisions for their lives. Undergirding this philosophy was the idea that knowledge over time, if applied by well-intended people, would result in societal benefits. A society organized by reason would, it was supposed, engender liberty and equality to replace the ancien régime (the monarchy, nobility, and the Catholic Church).[1]
The Enlightenment principle that reason could improve society was embraced by French and American revolutionaries of the late 18th century, who championed the notion that reason could entirely remake society. The argument that reason can improve and reshape society is a common thread that carries through to leaders of the Progressive Era and the modern administrative state.[2]
The Progressive Era (1890-1920)
Early growth of the administrative state occurred as a result of government regulation in the late 19th century. Thus was born the Progressive Era, during which reformers sought to remedy a variety of perceived social ills through an administrative apparatus run by those deemed experts untainted, it was believed, by political ambitions—and freed, in the view of some, from fixed constitutional constraints.
During the 1870s, agricultural workers called for the government regulation of railroads, which transported farm goods to markets, and banks, which financed farm production. The Interstate Commerce Commission, the nation's first regulatory agency, was created in 1887 to regulate railroads and carriers across state lines. Moreover, industrialization and immigration contributed to enormous wealth creation at the turn of the 20th century, but living conditions in major cities also deteriorated, and factories, some argued, could be dangerous. As the 19th century drew to a close, workers compensation laws were adopted by a number of states to address accidents and injuries suffered by industrial workers. Congress went on to pass the Federal Meat Inspection Act in 1906 to regulate the meat packing industry and safeguard against unsanitary slaughterhouse operations. That same year, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drugs Act to regulate the manufacture and distribution of what the legislation described as "adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs or medicines, and liquors.”[3][4][5][6]
Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson, who assumed the presidency in 1913, embraced policies that contributed to the expansion of the budding administrative state. Wilson, Frank Goodnow, and other contemporary thought leaders envisioned a government structure where politics and administration could operate separately from one another. Under this structure, government administration could be managed by neutral experts operating without political influence who would, consequently, improve the lives of all Americans. The Pendleton Act of 1883 made early progress in this direction by eliminating patronage in political government appointments and establishing a merit-based system for the selection of government employees. In order to fully implement his vision, Wilson supported the concept of a Darwinian Constitution—the idea that the Constitution is a living document that can change with society over time. Wilson and his contemporaries, influenced by German Hegelian philosophers, also championed the idea of mature freedom, which grants individuals the freedom that they can responsibly manage as opposed to recognizing individual freedom as a natural right.[3][7]
The progressive underpinnings of the Wilson administration (1913-1921) influenced a number of regulatory actions. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 created the Federal Reserve System and implemented federal regulation of the banking industry, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was established in 1914, and the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 strengthened the FTC's anti-trust enforcement measures.[3][4]
The New Deal (1933-1939)
During the 1920s, the growth in government administration slowed and, according to Harvard professors Edward Glaeser and Andrei Schleifer, even retreated. However, the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression gave rise to the New Deal, which operationalized progressive notions of government. President Franklin Roosevelt (D) and Congress effectively seized control of the financial system, and empowered a new administrative bureaucracy to refashion American society.
The New Deal ushered in a resurgence of progressive ideology and a shift toward the idea that science and experts in government administration could improve society. James Landis, an advisor to President Roosevelt and an architect of the New Deal, implemented a broad expansion of federal administrative agencies in a relatively short period of time. The Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 regulated the securities markets and created the Securities and Exchange Commission. The National Labor Relations Board and the Federal Communications Commission were also created during this period.[3][4]
According to Glaeser and Schleifer, "When Landis wrote in 1938, he could confidently conclude that 'the administrative' has replaced 'the judiciary' as the principal form of social control of business.”[4]
American political scientist Dwight Waldo coined the term administrative state in his 1948 book The Administrative State: A Study of the Political Theory of American Public Administration. For more information about the origin and evolution of the term administrative state, click here.
The second wave of the administrative state (1964-2016)
President Lyndon Johnson's (D) Great Society programs spurred a new period of growth for the administrative state. This "second wave of regulatory growth crested" by the 1970s, according to Christopher DeMuth, a fellow at the Hudson Institute. Under Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon (R), new federal agencies were created, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.[3][8]
Unlike the independent regulatory commissions created during the Progressive Era, which Demuth described as "mini-legislatures," the federal agencies established during the second wave of regulatory growth were hierarchies with a single individual at the helm appointed by the president. Moreover, unlike the Democratic-driven growth of the early 20th century, Democrats and Republicans alike contributed to the expansion of the administrative state during the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century. DeMuth observed that prior to the Democratic Obama administration, the largest increases in federal regulations occurred during the Republican administrations of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. The total annual page count of Federal Register, the daily journal of the federal government that is often used as a metric to gauge the size and scope of federal administrative activity, reached an all-time high of 95,894 pages under the Obama administration in 2016.[8]
The modern administrative state is made up of a complex combination of executive agencies and independent federal agencies—though the exact number of current agencies is unknown. Estimates from the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) range from 78 to 137 independent federal agencies and between 174 and 268 executive agencies.[9][10]
The modern era (2017-present)
The administrative state became a central political issue during President Donald Trump's (R) first administration (2017–2021), which brought renewed scrutiny and criticism of federal regulatory power into the mainstream. His administration emphasized deregulation through executive orders, regulatory rollbacks, and appointments aimed at reshaping agencies from within. President Joe Biden (D), in contrast, expanded regulatory activity, particularly in areas such as environmental policy, labor, and healthcare. In his second term beginning in 2025, President Trump renewed efforts to reduce the size and scope of the administrative state. He created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to modernize federal operations and streamline government functions, while also using it to dismantle or consolidate numerous agencies.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
See also
- Glossary of administrative state terms
- Laws, statutes, and bills related to the administrative state
- Concepts, terms, and definitions related to the administrative state
- Court cases and lawsuits related to the administrative state
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Enlightenment," August 29, 2017
- ↑ Tackett, T. (2015). The Coming of the Terror in the French Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (page 2)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Heritage Foundation, "From Administrative State to Constitutional Government," accessed September 28, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Harvard Law Review, "The Rise of the Regulatory State," June 2003
- ↑ U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Celebrating 100 Years of FMIA," accessed September 28, 2017
- ↑ "History, Art, & Archives—U.S. House of Representatives, "The Pure Food and Drug Act," accessed September 28, 2017
- ↑ "National Archives", "Document for January 16th: An Act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States (Pendleton Act), January 16, 1883," accessed September 28, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 National Affairs, "The Regulatory State," Summer 2012
- ↑ Administrative Conference of the United States, "Sourcebook of United States Executive Agencies," May 2013
- ↑ JUSTIA, "Legislative Agencies," accessed October 12, 2017
- ↑ Trump White House Archives, "President Donald J. Trump is Delivering on Deregulation," accessed April 30, 2025
- ↑ White House, "President Biden’s Agenda for Building Back Better," accessed April 30, 2025
- ↑ Brookings Institution, "The Administrative State Under Siege," March 2023
- ↑ The Heritage Foundation, "How the Administrative State Got to This Point," October 2022
- ↑ Wall Street Journal, "Trump Creates Department of Government Efficiency in Renewed Push to Rein in Bureaucracy," January 22, 2025
- ↑ The White House, "Establishing and Implementing the President's Department of Government Efficiency", January 20, 2025
