Presidents Above Party: The First American Presidency, 1789-1829George Washington's vision was a presidency free of party, a republican, national office that would transcend faction. That vision would remain strong in the administrations of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams, yet largely disappear under Andrew Jackson and his successors. This book is a comprehensive and pathbreaking study of the early presidency and the ideals behind it. Ralph Ketcham examines the roots of nonpartisan leadership in Western thought and the particular influences on the founding fathers. Intellectual and political profiles of the first six presidents and their administrations emphasize the construction each put on the office, the challenges he faced, and the compromises he did and did not make. The erosion of nonpartisanship under Andrew Jackson is presented as a counterpoint that helps define the early presidency and the permanent transition from it. Addressing the thoughtful citizen as well as the scholar, the author poses the fundamental questions about presidential leadership, then and now. The best study of the early presidency, this book is an intellectual portrait of the age that will challenge received notions of American history. |
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Page viii
... Adams , however , would have been appalled at the assignment of such a role to the presidency . Remembering that praise of party and of conflict are by now entirely conventional among both British and American students of politics only ...
... Adams , however , would have been appalled at the assignment of such a role to the presidency . Remembering that praise of party and of conflict are by now entirely conventional among both British and American students of politics only ...
Page x
... Adams , was a view of leadership by no means attuned to the diversified , competitive , brokering public style dominant in Anglo- America from Peel and Jackson onward . The first six American presidents , that is , were caught ...
... Adams , was a view of leadership by no means attuned to the diversified , competitive , brokering public style dominant in Anglo- America from Peel and Jackson onward . The first six American presidents , that is , were caught ...
Page xiii
... Leadership in New Constitutions / 76 PART II The American Presidency , 1789-1837 5. The Federalist Presidents / 89 George Washington / 89 John Adams / 93 6. The First Republican Chief Magistrates / 100 Thomas Jefferson Contents.
... Leadership in New Constitutions / 76 PART II The American Presidency , 1789-1837 5. The Federalist Presidents / 89 George Washington / 89 John Adams / 93 6. The First Republican Chief Magistrates / 100 Thomas Jefferson Contents.
Page 3
... Adams , although an earnest and prideful man , nonetheless refused to campaign either to gain the presidency in 1796 or to retain it in 1800. Well aware of the bitter partisanship of the 1790s ( which he had both heightened and taken ...
... Adams , although an earnest and prideful man , nonetheless refused to campaign either to gain the presidency in 1796 or to retain it in 1800. Well aware of the bitter partisanship of the 1790s ( which he had both heightened and taken ...
Page 4
... Adams and Jackson presidencies ? In what way did the leader of the first modern American political party embody a new conception of executive office ? Like J. Q. Adams , James Madison and James Monroe earlier viewed their tenures as ...
... Adams and Jackson presidencies ? In what way did the leader of the first modern American political party embody a new conception of executive office ? Like J. Q. Adams , James Madison and James Monroe earlier viewed their tenures as ...
Contents
3 | |
11 | |
The American Presidency 17891837 | 87 |
Republican Dilemmas Virtue and Commerce Leadership and Party | 163 |
Notes | 237 |
Index | 261 |
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Abigail Adams accepted Adams's administration admired Alexander Pope American Revolution ancient Augustan Bernard Mandeville Bolingbroke Britain British Buren Cato century Charles Francis Adams Classical colonies commercial common conception Congress Constitution Convention corruption cultural Daniel Defoe defended Defoe democratic Dunciad early presidents economic eighteenth eighteenth-century election England English ethic executive power faction Federal Federalist Franklin George Hamilton ibid idea ideal ideology insisted J. Q. Adams Jackson Jacksonian James Madison Jeffersonian John Adams John Quincy Adams John Winthrop Jonathan Swift legislative legislature liberty Mandeville ment modern monarch Monroe moral nation Number opposition Parliament partisan partisanship patriot king patriot leader Pitt Plutarch political parties president's principles prosperity public philosophy Puritan quoted radical Whig republic republican Revolutionary role rulers scorned self-interest sense six presidents society sought spirit Thomas Jefferson thought tion Tory trade traditional United virtue virtuous Walpole Walpole's Walpolean Washington wealth Wilson Writings wrote York