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 vii
... later , Madison's definition of faction was any group , minority or majority , " who are united and actuated by some com- mon impulse of passion , or of interest , adverse . . . to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community ...
... later , Madison's definition of faction was any group , minority or majority , " who are united and actuated by some com- mon impulse of passion , or of interest , adverse . . . to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community ...
Page 6
... later Whig history , which would see a steady Anglo - American progress toward modern democratic govern- ment : limitation of aristocracy , improvement of representative institutions , protection of individual liberties , enlargement of ...
... later Whig history , which would see a steady Anglo - American progress toward modern democratic govern- ment : limitation of aristocracy , improvement of representative institutions , protection of individual liberties , enlargement of ...
Page 22
... later . George I , parochial , ignorant of his English domain , and unable even to speak its language , was an ideal " monarch " in many respects for the Whig magnates who had placed him on the throne . While he carefully protected his ...
... later . George I , parochial , ignorant of his English domain , and unable even to speak its language , was an ideal " monarch " in many respects for the Whig magnates who had placed him on the throne . While he carefully protected his ...
Page 25
... later a Puritan clergyman applied the point specifically to indi- viduals : " Man's fall was his turning from God to himself ; and his regenera- tion consisteth in the turning of him from himself to God . . . . [ Hence , ] self - denial ...
... later a Puritan clergyman applied the point specifically to indi- viduals : " Man's fall was his turning from God to himself ; and his regenera- tion consisteth in the turning of him from himself to God . . . . [ Hence , ] self - denial ...
Page 26
... later , Davenant thought of Lycurgus , whose " most perfect Model of Govern- ment " had banished luxury , and hoped England might no more encourage trade and all its entailed corruptions than Sparta had done.3 In fact , the new economic ...
... later , Davenant thought of Lycurgus , whose " most perfect Model of Govern- ment " had banished luxury , and hoped England might no more encourage trade and all its entailed corruptions than Sparta had done.3 In fact , the new economic ...
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