Politics Professor Holds Featured Talk at the Capital Rare Book Fair Brian Alexander provided historical and modern insights on Thomas Jefferson’s “A Manual of Parliamentary Practice.”

By Brian Laubscher
May 28, 2025

Brian Alexander, associate professor of politics at Washington and Lee University, held a talk titled “Thomas Jefferson’s Congressional Legacy: A Story About Books” on May 3 at the Capital Rare Book Fair held at the University Club in Washington, D.C.

Alexander’s talk served to discuss Thomas Jefferson’s book “A Manual of Parliamentary Practice” and preview Alexander’s forthcoming second edition of the book, slated to be published by Arcadia Press in August. Alexander provided history and modern insights on Jefferson’s original edition, the first American book written about the rules of Congress. His discussion explored why Jefferson wrote the book and what we can learn from it today.

“The dignity of the Congress — the ability for a representative legislative body to fulfill its duty — requires there to be rules of order. American democracy is only as strong as the rules of the institutions that govern it. Jefferson knew this, and this is why he wrote the ‘Manual of Parliamentary Practice,’” Alexander said during his talk. “My new edition of Jefferson’s manual reflects Jefferson’s final word on the subject and his deep commitment to the strength of the Congress.”

A member of the W&L faculty since 2017, Alexander is an expert on Congressional legislative norms, parliamentary procedure and interest groups. He authored a book titled “A Social Theory of Congress: Legislative Norms in the Twenty-first Century” in 2021 and completed a fellowship at the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello, where he worked with Jefferson’s original edition of “A Manual of Parliamentary Practice.” Alexander annually directs W&L’s Washington Term, an experiential learning program offered to students in Washington, D.C., during Spring Term.

Alexander holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural studies from Miami (Ohio) University, a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in American government and international relations from George Mason University.

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