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 3
... writings prove him a stronger advocate for liberty than any of his country- men , the whigs of the present day . " 1 ... Writing to Adams in December 1796 , Jefferson spoke of Adams's “ just wishes " and worthy succession , took pride in ...
... writings prove him a stronger advocate for liberty than any of his country- men , the whigs of the present day . " 1 ... Writing to Adams in December 1796 , Jefferson spoke of Adams's “ just wishes " and worthy succession , took pride in ...
Page 21
... writing , as well as his popular translations of Virgil and Plutarch , gave his thought a lasting in- fluence far transcending party . Abigail Adams , for example , mightily im- pressed by George Washington when she first met him in ...
... writing , as well as his popular translations of Virgil and Plutarch , gave his thought a lasting in- fluence far transcending party . Abigail Adams , for example , mightily im- pressed by George Washington when she first met him in ...
Page 26
... writing in 1701 , extended this moral contempt for the new ethic to the political implications of the new economics , to the Bank of England , to speculation in stock , and to the huge public debt , which was not only condoned but also ...
... writing in 1701 , extended this moral contempt for the new ethic to the political implications of the new economics , to the Bank of England , to speculation in stock , and to the huge public debt , which was not only condoned but also ...
Page 27
... writings as not honestly accepting it . " 38 However much thought and practice in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries might seem in retrospect to have been moving inexorably toward the mun- dane , calculating views of Jeremy ...
... writings as not honestly accepting it . " 38 However much thought and practice in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries might seem in retrospect to have been moving inexorably toward the mun- dane , calculating views of Jeremy ...
Page 30
... writings of both Pope and Swift were sometimes condemned as " gross and disgusting , " more often , especially ... writing : Let satire's wrath reclaim a harden'd race , Chill with contempt , improve by just disgrace , With public ...
... writings of both Pope and Swift were sometimes condemned as " gross and disgusting , " more often , especially ... writing : Let satire's wrath reclaim a harden'd race , Chill with contempt , improve by just disgrace , With public ...
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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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