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
Results 1-5 of 54
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 xiv
... Thomas Jefferson / 100 James Madison / 113 7. The Ebb of the Republican Presidency / 124 James Monroe / 124 John Quincy Adains : Public Servant / 130 The Paradoxical President / 137 8. The Jacksonians and Leadership through Party / 141 ...
... Thomas Jefferson / 100 James Madison / 113 7. The Ebb of the Republican Presidency / 124 James Monroe / 124 John Quincy Adains : Public Servant / 130 The Paradoxical President / 137 8. The Jacksonians and Leadership through Party / 141 ...
Page 3
... Thomas Jefferson to his grandson , we find this curious remark : " You ask my opinion of Lord Bolingbroke and Thomas Paine . . . . Both were honest men ; both advocates for hu- man liberty . Bolingbroke . . . was called indeed a tory ...
... Thomas Jefferson to his grandson , we find this curious remark : " You ask my opinion of Lord Bolingbroke and Thomas Paine . . . . Both were honest men ; both advocates for hu- man liberty . Bolingbroke . . . was called indeed a tory ...
Page 5
... Thomas Gordon , Montesquieu , Francis Hutcheson , James Burgh , and others , became the foundation of American republican ideol- ogy , erecting the barriers against tyranny needed in 1776 and marking out the first principles of ...
... Thomas Gordon , Montesquieu , Francis Hutcheson , James Burgh , and others , became the foundation of American republican ideol- ogy , erecting the barriers against tyranny needed in 1776 and marking out the first principles of ...
Page 20
... Thomas Hutchin- son . Preachers of election sermons , too , even as they increasingly charged leaders with the duty of listening to the voice of the people , seldom failed to extol as well the traits of magistracy held up by Perkins and ...
... Thomas Hutchin- son . Preachers of election sermons , too , even as they increasingly charged leaders with the duty of listening to the voice of the people , seldom failed to extol as well the traits of magistracy held up by Perkins and ...
Contents
3 | |
11 | |
The American Presidency 17891837 | 87 |
Republican Dilemmas Virtue and Commerce Leadership and Party | 163 |
Notes | 237 |
Index | 261 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
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