In this intellectual history of America's two-party system, Donald V. Weatherman grapples with the central issue confronting political parties: What role should they play within a constitutional government?: By examining three major efforts at party reform-the Progressive movement, efforts to develop a responsible party system in the 1950s and 1960s, and Democratic nominating system reforms between 1968 and 1988-Weatherman shows how we have lost sight of the founders' original intentions to create a party system that would enhance the democratic tendencies of our political system while strengthening our constitutional structure.