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. |
From inside the book
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Page xiii
... Bolingbroke / 51 " Oppositionist " Crosscurrents , 1720-1742 / 51 The Idea of a Patriot King / 57 Legacy for Leadership in America / 67 4. Executive Power in the Era of the American Revolution / 69 William Pitt and George III ...
... Bolingbroke / 51 " Oppositionist " Crosscurrents , 1720-1742 / 51 The Idea of a Patriot King / 57 Legacy for Leadership in America / 67 4. Executive Power in the Era of the American Revolution / 69 William Pitt and George III ...
Page 3
... Bolingbroke and Thomas Paine . . . . Both were honest men ; both advocates for hu- man liberty . Bolingbroke . . . was called indeed a tory ; but his writings prove him a stronger advocate for liberty than any of his country- men , the ...
... Bolingbroke and Thomas Paine . . . . Both were honest men ; both advocates for hu- man liberty . Bolingbroke . . . was called indeed a tory ; but his writings prove him a stronger advocate for liberty than any of his country- men , the ...
Page 4
... Bolingbroke . In surrounding himself with certain ceremonies of courtly dignity , in trying earnestly to make Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton work together in his cabinet , and in seriously attempting to preserve in himself both the ...
... Bolingbroke . In surrounding himself with certain ceremonies of courtly dignity , in trying earnestly to make Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton work together in his cabinet , and in seriously attempting to preserve in himself both the ...
Page 29
... Bolingbroke , John Arbuthnot , and William Pulteney , assaulted what they saw as a “ commercialization of values . " Together they fashioned a compelling world view deeply at odds with the ethical and political ideas implicit in the ...
... Bolingbroke , John Arbuthnot , and William Pulteney , assaulted what they saw as a “ commercialization of values . " Together they fashioned a compelling world view deeply at odds with the ethical and political ideas implicit in the ...
Page 30
... Bolingbroke and read in the widely printed letters of Pope and Swift ( especially those written in the 1720s ) of the close personal , literary , and ideological connections among these eminent , admired writers , their pro- nouncements ...
... Bolingbroke and read in the widely printed letters of Pope and Swift ( especially those written in the 1720s ) of the close personal , literary , and ideological connections among these eminent , admired writers , their pro- nouncements ...
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