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
... human life . " The American Presidency , " according to Burns , " was not designed to be the center of leadership . " Rather , the framers hoped and assumed “ that the President would be ' above ' political conflict , [ a ] high ...
... human life . " The American Presidency , " according to Burns , " was not designed to be the center of leadership . " Rather , the framers hoped and assumed “ that the President would be ' above ' political conflict , [ a ] high ...
Page 3
... human liberty " and could admire an Au- gustan nobleman above Whig parliamentarians ? These paradoxes , in fact , reveal that Jefferson had a view of free government significantly different from that common today and suggest that early ...
... human liberty " and could admire an Au- gustan nobleman above Whig parliamentarians ? These paradoxes , in fact , reveal that Jefferson had a view of free government significantly different from that common today and suggest that early ...
Page 17
... then , emphasized the role of the magistrate , and its thrust was " to set up some kind of a disciplined holy commonwealth [ which ] . . . fashioned all aspects of human existence around [ a ] desire to Seventeenth - Century England 17.
... then , emphasized the role of the magistrate , and its thrust was " to set up some kind of a disciplined holy commonwealth [ which ] . . . fashioned all aspects of human existence around [ a ] desire to Seventeenth - Century England 17.
Page 18
The First American Presidency, 1789-1829 Ralph Ketcham. aspects of human existence around [ a ] desire to live a godly life . ” The Pu- ritan leaders in many ways were “ looking backward , ” it is clear , to the “ cor- porate ideal of ...
The First American Presidency, 1789-1829 Ralph Ketcham. aspects of human existence around [ a ] desire to live a godly life . ” The Pu- ritan leaders in many ways were “ looking backward , ” it is clear , to the “ cor- porate ideal of ...
Page 21
... human laws control , And mend the parts by ruin of the whole . Scorning the Whigs , who had whipped the nation into a fury over the Popish Plot , as " a numerous faction , with pretended frights , " Dryden lamented That Absalom ...
... human laws control , And mend the parts by ruin of the whole . Scorning the Whigs , who had whipped the nation into a fury over the Popish Plot , as " a numerous faction , with pretended frights , " Dryden lamented That Absalom ...
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