This site is the primary repository of data collected by the American Institutions Project. The components of this project are (1) data on every statute passed between 1877 and 1994, including estimates of their significance; (2) issue codings for every roll call in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate between 1877 and 2011; (3) aggregate and issue-specific ideal point estimates for this period. Coding for this project was begun by John S. Lapinski and Ira Katznelson, financed by NSF Grant SES 0318280; it was subsequently expanded by David A. Bateman.  

Statutes

For a discussion of statute database and of the procedure for estimating significance, see Joshua D. Clinton and John S. Lapinski, 2006. "Measuring Legislative Accomplishment, 1877-1994." American Journal of Political Science. 50(1): 232-49, and John S. Lapinski, 2008. "Policy Substance and Performance in American Lawmaking, 1877-1994." American Journal of Political Science. 52(2): 235-51
legislative-significance-dataset.xls
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Roll Calls

For a discussion of the coding scheme used, see Ira Katznelson and John S. Lapinski, 2006. “The Substance of Representation: Studying Policy Content and Legislative Behavior.” In The Macropolitics of Congress. E. Scott Adler and John Lapinski eds. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 
senate.rollcall.reduced.xlsx
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house.rollcall.reduced.xlsx
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coding_scheme.pdf
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Ideal Points

For a discussion of the use of issue-specific ideal points, see David A. Bateman and John S. Lapinski, "Ideal Points and American Political Development: Beyond DW-NOMINATE." Studies in American Political Development. 30(2): 147-71; and John S. Lapinski, 2013. The Substance of Representation: Congress, American Political Development, and Lawmaking. Princeton: Princeton University Press