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The police power evaded principled scrutiny both of its bases and its effects because the moment of its emergence in American political-legal consciousness--the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries--was simultaneously the moment of its defense. Associated in the liberal mind with benevolent resort to the state's capacities to elevate its citizenry, the police power became the principle means to elevate “public right,” address the social(rather than merely individual) interests with which public right was purportedly identified, and thereby, ultimately, improve the human condition. The purpose of the Police Power is to establish a basis upon which we can think very differently about the police power Given the dreadful record of the twentieth century's experiment with government power unleashed in the name of public good, a renewed appreciation for government power of a more modest sort might be a good thing.