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
Results 1-5 of 38
Page 5
... rule , had achieved substantial gov- ernment by consent . The exaltation of the legislature was further empha- sized as the struggle with the mother country took the form of elected as- semblies resisting tyrannical royal governors ...
... rule , had achieved substantial gov- ernment by consent . The exaltation of the legislature was further empha- sized as the struggle with the mother country took the form of elected as- semblies resisting tyrannical royal governors ...
Page 6
... rule of law , and a balance of powers , as set forth by Locke and by Montesquieu - pro- scribed not only a Hobbesian Leviathan or a Machiavellian Prince but also a Rousseauistic general will or a unitary assembly of the sort advocated ...
... rule of law , and a balance of powers , as set forth by Locke and by Montesquieu - pro- scribed not only a Hobbesian Leviathan or a Machiavellian Prince but also a Rousseauistic general will or a unitary assembly of the sort advocated ...
Page 7
... rule . . . . The ancient assumption . . . that superiority should be unitary , that leadership in politics should fall to the leaders of society -... leaders in status , in wealth , and in the skills associated with a superior style of ...
... rule . . . . The ancient assumption . . . that superiority should be unitary , that leadership in politics should fall to the leaders of society -... leaders in status , in wealth , and in the skills associated with a superior style of ...
Page 13
... rule or law , changing the whole frame of government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years ? " " The Commons of England , " Charles warned his judges , " will not thank you for this change ; for they will ...
... rule or law , changing the whole frame of government under which this Kingdom hath flourished for many hundred years ? " " The Commons of England , " Charles warned his judges , " will not thank you for this change ; for they will ...
Page 15
... rule and some to be ruled and that every Christian had a “ calling " defining his particular niche in the divine plan . On the other hand , all privileges and responsibilities of place and rank in society were to be guided by higher law ...
... rule and some to be ruled and that every Christian had a “ calling " defining his particular niche in the divine plan . On the other hand , all privileges and responsibilities of place and rank in society were to be guided by higher law ...
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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Common terms and phrases
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