Introduction : "badly in detail but well on the whole": the second state
Prologue : "the great, noisy, reedy, jarring assembly" : the Capitol, lawyers, and public space
A "government of states" : sponsorship and the first debate on land grant colleges, 1858-1861
"The object of a democratic government" : sponsorship and supervision of agriculture and land grant colleges, 1861-1863
"A government of law" : sponsoring and supervising the freedmen, abandoned lands, and refugees, 1863-1865
The "twin pillars" of the state : the supervision and standardization of education and law enforcement, 1865-1876
"To change the nature of the government" : standardizing schooling and the civil service, 1876-1883
"What constitutes a state" : supervising labor and commerce, 1883-1886
"A system entirely satisfactory to the country" : standardizing labor and the courts, 1886-1891
Conclusion : "to answer our purposes, it must be adapted".