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
... nation . Burns thinks it fortunate that circum- stances soon corrected this " vain hope " and that the office moved toward more political engagement . Good leadership , he adds , is “ dissensual " and , far from seeking to be consensual ...
... nation . Burns thinks it fortunate that circum- stances soon corrected this " vain hope " and that the office moved toward more political engagement . Good leadership , he adds , is “ dissensual " and , far from seeking to be consensual ...
Page x
... nation - builders , and within fifty years these values would lead gradually to a “ modern ” political party system . Especially before 1829 , though , they were mingled with still- potent assumptions and attitudes linked to monarchy ...
... nation - builders , and within fifty years these values would lead gradually to a “ modern ” political party system . Especially before 1829 , though , they were mingled with still- potent assumptions and attitudes linked to monarchy ...
Page 4
... nation were to be derived not from a national unity intent on the general good but merely from the interplay of factional politics , then something vital had disappeared . Thus , when his ideal of above - party leadership very nearly ...
... nation were to be derived not from a national unity intent on the general good but merely from the interplay of factional politics , then something vital had disappeared . Thus , when his ideal of above - party leadership very nearly ...
Page 6
... nation debated , drafted , and implemented consti- tutions between 1776 and 1789 , then , the nature and justification of execu- tive power emerged as the least settled and the most puzzling of the prob- lems of government . There were ...
... nation debated , drafted , and implemented consti- tutions between 1776 and 1789 , then , the nature and justification of execu- tive power emerged as the least settled and the most puzzling of the prob- lems of government . There were ...
Page 16
... nation , depended on a vigorous executive who would faithfully and strenuously exert himself on behalf of God's law . Not surprisingly , such God - centered political writers condemned the " carnall wisdome " of Machiavelli , who had ...
... nation , depended on a vigorous executive who would faithfully and strenuously exert himself on behalf of God's law . Not surprisingly , such God - centered political writers condemned the " carnall wisdome " of Machiavelli , who had ...
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