Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/243

WOODROW WILSON 203 study of Adam Smith, while early in 1885 ap peared his first important volume, "Congressional Government, a Study of Government by Commit tee." It was the first time a thorough consideration not only of the theory but of the actual working of the Constitution of the United States had ever been prepared in book form. It was the result of ten years of absorbing study. It met with im mediate success, and Ambassador Bryce in the preface to his "American Commonwealth" acknowledges his indebtedness to the work. It brought him invitations to several college chairs, and, while still continuing his Hopkins studies, he accepted the place of associate in history and polit ical economy at the new college for the higher edu cation of women Bryn Mawr. Mr. Wilson s course of lectures was one of the most popular in the college. In 1886 he took his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins, his work on "Congressional Government" being accepted as his thesis, and one year later the University offered him a lectureship which took him to Baltimore once a week for twenty-five weeks. Leaving Bryn Mawr, he was two years at Wes- leyan University as professor of history and polit ical economy, during which time he wrote "The State," and in 1890 he accepted an offer of the chair of jurisprudence and politics in Princeton University. After fifteen years the young pro fessor who had received the inspiration for his life