JAMES ROGER SHARP is Professor of History at Syracuse University. He is the author of American Politics in the Early Republic: The New Nation in Crisis (1993, 1997). The Sharps are the editors of the two earlier volumes, American Legislative Leaders in the West, 1911-1994 and American Legislative Leaders in the Midwest, 1911-1994 (Greenwood, 1997).NANCY WEATHERLY SHARP is a member of the faculty and Assistant Dean at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University. She is the author of Communications Research: The Challenge of the Information Age (l988).Kevin G. Atwater asst. ed.Gina Petonito asst. ed.Charles F. Ritter adv. ed.Jon L. Wakelyn adv. ed.