Publications

Jordan Butcher and Aric Dale Gooch. 2021. "The Development of Representation in American Political Institutions." Legislative Studies Quarterly 46(4): 1059-1086.

Aric Dale Gooch and Jay Dow. 2021. "Congressional Nominations and Party Emergence, 1788-1808." Social Science Quarterly 102(6): 2836-2848.

Aric Dale Gooch. 2024. "Congressional Redistricting and Strategic Copartisans: Partisan Gerrymandering in Pennsylvania, 1800-1824" Political Research Quarterly

Working Papers

Aric Dale Gooch and Zach Lang "State Politics in the Early Republic and the Development of the American Executive: Party Politics and Executive Selection Mechanisms, 1788-1832"
Abstract: This paper examines how changes in American political thought during the Early Republic influenced changes in institutional selection mechanisms for governors and presidential electors.  Specifically, this paper seeks to understand how Americans viewed their executive representatives at the time, and how changes in these views led to changes in gubernatorial and presidential elector selection.  This paper argues that at the time, ideas of representation surrounding executives evolved to become centered around a “delegate” vision of representation, and that ideological differences among state legislatures and the public led to this change in philosophy.  Furthermore, this paper argues that conceptions of state-level executive power informed conceptions of Federal-level executive power during this period.  This paper uses state constitutional convention notes, voting records, and other primary sources in order to shed new light on these broad debates about historical conceptions of representation.  It is the first attempt to connect theories of federal executive representation with that of the state level and combine theories of governor and elector representation.  It is also the first to clarify how ideological division at the state level led to changes in political thought.  In an era where yet again ideological division, polarization, and debates about institutional norms are commonplace, it is important to understand how past Americans conceived of their relationship to government. 

Aric Dale Gooch "Party Emergence from the Middle-Out: The Role of American Federalism in Party Development, 1796-1824"
Abstract: The Democratic-Republican Party as an emerging opposition party was incentivized to develop at the state level first before the national level because of the unique combination of American federalism and national electoral systems. Aldrich’s (1995) work on the development of political parties highlights the role of institutions and the collective action problems they produce. This work, however, does not fully consider the role of American federalism in the development of political parties. The unique position of state legislatures to influence, often directly, the selection of national level political officers made them a linchpin institution for those with national policy goals. State legislatures held the power to determine selection mechanisms for the House of Representatives and presidential electors. Further, these institutions directly appointed US Senators and often gave themselves the power to appoint presidential electors. I provide evidence that the Democratic-Republican party developed from the state level, the middle, out using both quantitative evidence and analyses. I also provide qualitative evidence that party operatives understood the centrality of these institutions to their national level policy goals via their power over national level officer selection.