James Bryce (3)

Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1838 and educated at Trinity College, Oxford, James Bryce was a lawyer, writer, and member of Parliament. He also served as his country's ambassador to the United States from 1907 to 1913. Bryce achieved fame primarily for his book The American Commonwealth show more (1888). His aim was to produce the first substantial description of U.S. democracy, covering not only the constitutional structure but also state and local government, the party system, public opinion, and social institutions. Toqueville's Democracy in America was in one sense his model, but Bryce deliberately avoided Tocqueville's speculative method and concentrated more on detailed description and also on some prescription. "Law," he noted, "will never be strong or respected unless it has the sentiment of the people behind it." The American Commonwealth became the first textbook on U.S. government and, along with Tocqueville's book, one of the most notable to have ever been written about the United States. Bryce died in 1922. (Bowker Author Biography) show less