A discussion of ten American political institutions and the men who designed them, including John Winthrop and the New England town; John Locke and the Southern plantation; Thomas Jefferson and the north-western township; William Leggett and the general business corporation; Joseph Pulitzer and municipal home rule; Justin Morrill and land grant colleges; Hugh Hammond Bennett and Soil Conservation Districts and Byron Hanke and Residential Community Associations, among others. These laws of general applicability are contrasted with the 'interest group liberalism' prevalent at the present time.