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 68
Page 4
... corruption , articulated for Washing- ton's generation by Henry St. John , Lord Bolingbroke . In surrounding himself with certain ceremonies of courtly dignity , in trying earnestly to make Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton work together ...
... corruption , articulated for Washing- ton's generation by Henry St. John , Lord Bolingbroke . In surrounding himself with certain ceremonies of courtly dignity , in trying earnestly to make Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton work together ...
Page 15
... and flexibility an echo of Tacitus : “ Rome was never so corrupt as when its laws were so abundant . ” In this view , the disinterestedness , virtue , and wisdom of a ruler , not a rigid , detailed Seventeenth - Century England 15.
... and flexibility an echo of Tacitus : “ Rome was never so corrupt as when its laws were so abundant . ” In this view , the disinterestedness , virtue , and wisdom of a ruler , not a rigid , detailed Seventeenth - Century England 15.
Page 16
... corrupt English society , a magistrate should be held to even higher standards of personal morality than was customary and be expected more fully to insist that the community conform to the precepts of the Kingdom of God . John Winthrop ...
... corrupt English society , a magistrate should be held to even higher standards of personal morality than was customary and be expected more fully to insist that the community conform to the precepts of the Kingdom of God . John Winthrop ...
Page 20
... corruption continued to be just as heinous to the Pu- ritans as they had been to Clarendon . New Englanders thus heard appeals from all sides for policy above party — for laws and acts , that is , that at- tuned the nation to a higher ...
... corruption continued to be just as heinous to the Pu- ritans as they had been to Clarendon . New Englanders thus heard appeals from all sides for policy above party — for laws and acts , that is , that at- tuned the nation to a higher ...
Page 26
... corrupt alliance tying national policy to the special inter- ests of the great merchants.34 Worst of all , " while public ... Corruption which never fails to end in Slavery . " Then , as Samuel Adams would do a century later , Davenant ...
... corrupt alliance tying national policy to the special inter- ests of the great merchants.34 Worst of all , " while public ... Corruption which never fails to end in Slavery . " Then , as Samuel Adams would do a century later , Davenant ...
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