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 iv
... Political science— United States - History . 4. United States - Politics and government — 1789-1815 . 5. United States - Politics and government - 1815-1861 . I. Institute of Early American History and Culture ( Williamsburg , Va . ) II ...
... Political science— United States - History . 4. United States - Politics and government — 1789-1815 . 5. United States - Politics and government - 1815-1861 . I. Institute of Early American History and Culture ( Williamsburg , Va . ) II ...
Page viii
... political criticism and opposition be incar- nated in one or more opposition parties , free . . . to form permanent . . . recognized oppositional structures . " That is , political parties were the very incarnation , the flesh and blood ...
... political criticism and opposition be incar- nated in one or more opposition parties , free . . . to form permanent . . . recognized oppositional structures . " That is , political parties were the very incarnation , the flesh and blood ...
Page ix
... political contribu- tions was made " on government property . " ) Or must we accept it as proper that , as happened ... political ideas influential in eighteenth - century America . Others have analyzed the growth of political parties ...
... political contribu- tions was made " on government property . " ) Or must we accept it as proper that , as happened ... political ideas influential in eighteenth - century America . Others have analyzed the growth of political parties ...
Page x
... political thought . Most fundamentally , however , their conceptions of executive leadership rested on the neoclassical age of English literature , beginning with John Dryden and ending with Samuel Johnson , and par- ticularly on the ...
... political thought . Most fundamentally , however , their conceptions of executive leadership rested on the neoclassical age of English literature , beginning with John Dryden and ending with Samuel Johnson , and par- ticularly on the ...
Page xi
... politics were still widely suspect . It has seemed im- portant , to me , then , to look closely at the tensions in ... political practice , shared an essentially nonpartisan conception of the presidency . One can find in the words and ...
... politics were still widely suspect . It has seemed im- portant , to me , then , to look closely at the tensions in ... political practice , shared an essentially nonpartisan conception of the presidency . One can find in the words and ...
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