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
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Page vii
... party . Lord Halifax's " Maxim " in 1693 was that " parties in a State generally , P like Freebooters , hang out False Colours : the pretence is the Pub- lick Good ; the real business is , to catch Prizes ; like the Tartars , where ...
... party . Lord Halifax's " Maxim " in 1693 was that " parties in a State generally , P like Freebooters , hang out False Colours : the pretence is the Pub- lick Good ; the real business is , to catch Prizes ; like the Tartars , where ...
Page viii
... party system in the United States . Nor is it surprising that Hofstadter sees " the gradual acceptance of parties and of the system of a recognized partisan opposition " as “ a net gain in the sophistication of political thought and ...
... party system in the United States . Nor is it surprising that Hofstadter sees " the gradual acceptance of parties and of the system of a recognized partisan opposition " as “ a net gain in the sophistication of political thought and ...
Page ix
... party . And because their idea of executive leadership was linked closely to their view of party , the difficulty is transferred to our effort to understand and appreciate what they sought to be as presidents . But without such an ...
... party . And because their idea of executive leadership was linked closely to their view of party , the difficulty is transferred to our effort to understand and appreciate what they sought to be as presidents . But without such an ...
Page xi
... party politics were still widely suspect . It has seemed im- portant , to me , then , to look closely at the tensions in values and habits that accompanied the commercial and industrial revolutions of the seven- teenth and eighteenth ...
... party politics were still widely suspect . It has seemed im- portant , to me , then , to look closely at the tensions in values and habits that accompanied the commercial and industrial revolutions of the seven- teenth and eighteenth ...
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