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 23
... trade and commerce might appear , a powerful countercurrent longed for the England of the landed gentry , the pious yeoman , the village church , Tudor patriotism , and even Stuart regal authority . To many people of all classes , this ...
... trade and commerce might appear , a powerful countercurrent longed for the England of the landed gentry , the pious yeoman , the village church , Tudor patriotism , and even Stuart regal authority . To many people of all classes , this ...
Page 24
... Trade and Wealth , and nothing else " ( 1691 ) . When a third theorist , revising natural law itself , said that in the " naturall course of trade , each commodity will find its price " and that " the supreme power can do many things ...
... Trade and Wealth , and nothing else " ( 1691 ) . When a third theorist , revising natural law itself , said that in the " naturall course of trade , each commodity will find its price " and that " the supreme power can do many things ...
Page 25
... trade un- profitable to the Publick ; for if any prove so , men leave it off ; and wherever the Traders thrive , the Publick , of which they are a part , thrives also . " 30 Slowly , an understanding of human nature emphasizing striving ...
... trade un- profitable to the Publick ; for if any prove so , men leave it off ; and wherever the Traders thrive , the Publick , of which they are a part , thrives also . " 30 Slowly , an understanding of human nature emphasizing striving ...
Page 26
... Trade , ” Davenant concluded , is “ without a doubt . . . a per- nicious thing ; it brings in that Wealth which introduces Luxury ; it gives a rise to Fraud and Avarice , and extinguishes Virtue and Simplicity of Man- ners ; it depraves ...
... Trade , ” Davenant concluded , is “ without a doubt . . . a per- nicious thing ; it brings in that Wealth which introduces Luxury ; it gives a rise to Fraud and Avarice , and extinguishes Virtue and Simplicity of Man- ners ; it depraves ...
Page 27
... trade and economic growth in providential terms ; indeed , Smith's “ invisible hand ” deliberately invoked divine imag- ery and simply included free trade within the meaning of “ natural law . ” Probably " no British writer before ...
... trade and economic growth in providential terms ; indeed , Smith's “ invisible hand ” deliberately invoked divine imag- ery and simply included free trade within the meaning of “ natural law . ” Probably " no British writer before ...
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