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 xi
... ideal of leadership that contrasts importantly with both " partisan ” and “ popular ” conceptions of the presidency influential in the twentieth century . My chief concern throughout , however , has been to reveal and clarify the ...
... ideal of leadership that contrasts importantly with both " partisan ” and “ popular ” conceptions of the presidency influential in the twentieth century . My chief concern throughout , however , has been to reveal and clarify the ...
Page xiv
... Ideal / 215 Executive Opportunities , 1789 / 215 Cultural Tensions and the Presidency / 218 Neither " Popular " nor " Partisan " Leadership / 225 Nonpartisanship and the Modern Presidency / 231 Notes / 237 Index / 261 xiv Contents.
... Ideal / 215 Executive Opportunities , 1789 / 215 Cultural Tensions and the Presidency / 218 Neither " Popular " nor " Partisan " Leadership / 225 Nonpartisanship and the Modern Presidency / 231 Notes / 237 Index / 261 xiv Contents.
Page 4
... ideal of above - party leadership very nearly materialized in his last two years in office , Madison felt triumphantly vindicated . Monroe's largely uncon- tested succession in 1817 and reelection in 1820 also pointed toward an ...
... ideal of above - party leadership very nearly materialized in his last two years in office , Madison felt triumphantly vindicated . Monroe's largely uncon- tested succession in 1817 and reelection in 1820 also pointed toward an ...
Page 14
... ideal of the good ruler cloaked in magisterial authority remained essential to their vision of a godly commonwealth . Long before the English Civil War , Wil- liam Perkins and other Puritans had insisted on qualities of leadership ad ...
... ideal of the good ruler cloaked in magisterial authority remained essential to their vision of a godly commonwealth . Long before the English Civil War , Wil- liam Perkins and other Puritans had insisted on qualities of leadership ad ...
Page 18
... ideal of the medieval period , not ahead to the individualism of the Enlightenment . " 15 In insisting that good government and a just society de- pended crucially on a wise and vigorous magistracy , Winthrop differed very little from ...
... ideal of the medieval period , not ahead to the individualism of the Enlightenment . " 15 In insisting that good government and a just society de- pended crucially on a wise and vigorous magistracy , Winthrop differed very little from ...
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