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 13
... remained a symbol of the limitations applicable to any government , especially in New England , where the last of the regicides had found refuge . Yet , Englishmen living in America unavoidably shared some of the uneasiness and ...
... remained a symbol of the limitations applicable to any government , especially in New England , where the last of the regicides had found refuge . Yet , Englishmen living in America unavoidably shared some of the uneasiness and ...
Page 14
... remained powerful long after 1649. Although few of Clarendon's North American readers agreed with his politics , it is also clear that con- ceptions of and hopes for moral leadership , authority , and national unity did not perish with ...
... remained powerful long after 1649. Although few of Clarendon's North American readers agreed with his politics , it is also clear that con- ceptions of and hopes for moral leadership , authority , and national unity did not perish with ...
Page 17
... remained convinced that his fundamental obligation was to rule wisely according to God's law . In 1645 , after being accused and then acquitted of acting arbitrarily , Winthrop reminded the General Court that though the magistrates were ...
... remained convinced that his fundamental obligation was to rule wisely according to God's law . In 1645 , after being accused and then acquitted of acting arbitrarily , Winthrop reminded the General Court that though the magistrates were ...
Page 22
... remained vigorous in both the Old and the New World . If one asks , then , what was “ settled " in 1714 with the ascension of George I , the answer must be as ambiguous as it was in the United States at Washington's inauguration seventy ...
... remained vigorous in both the Old and the New World . If one asks , then , what was “ settled " in 1714 with the ascension of George I , the answer must be as ambiguous as it was in the United States at Washington's inauguration seventy ...
Page 27
... remained strong . Political thought in the seventeenth century also moved rapidly to cope with the new speculations about human nature . Hobbes , the Puritan Levellers , James Harrington , and Locke , whatever the differences among them ...
... remained strong . Political thought in the seventeenth century also moved rapidly to cope with the new speculations about human nature . Hobbes , the Puritan Levellers , James Harrington , and Locke , whatever the differences among them ...
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