The Study of Administration is an important document in the body of knowledge of public

administration.
In 1886, Woodrow Wilson, not yet president but a leading intellectual in the progressive
movement, wrote a manifesto concerning the topic of the administration of government
entitled, The Study of Administration While not the first to discuss the matter, Wilsons
intention appeared to be to make public administration more applicable to the
administration of government as it is conducted in the United States. Wilson discussed what
other governments in various stages of development have done to overcome the hurdles of
managing the physical application of the laws imposed by their constitutions and later by
their respective lawmaking bodies. Wilson then defined what exactly Administration was as
it applied to the United States Government and attempted to determine the best method to
develop and clarify how administration may best be undertaken and improved upon in the
United States and under its Constitution. Wilson described public administration as,
detailed and systematic execution of public law. Every particular application of
general law is an act of administration (Wilson, 1887).
Wilson lists taxation, executions, mail delivery and military recruitment as acts of
administration. First, Wilson discusses the period of absolute rulers and how these absolute
rulers employ the concepts of administration. Second is the period in which these countries
develop constitutions to rid themselves of absolute rulers and when popular control over
government decisions begins. Wilson then adds, and in which administration is neglected
for these higher concerns (Wilson, 1887). The third is the time period after the
development of the constitution in which the people begin to craft the administration of
their government functions and laws under the new constitution.