Patriot Presidents: From George Washington to John Quincy Adams

A nuanced account of the early leaders who shaped the American presidency The founding fathers of the United States created a unique institution, the presidency, as they were determined to authorize an effective chief executive but wary of monarchy. They endowed this office with broad prerogatives and power but hedged it in with limitations. The presidency that developed over the next generation, however, was fashioned less by the clauses in the Constitution than by the way that the first presidents responded to challenges such as sectional enmity and the vexing Napoleonic warfare that jeopardized maritime rights. Patriot Presidents explores how the presidency took shape from the medley of clauses handed down to George Washington, who said, "I walk on untrodden ground," for virtually everything he did created a precedent. It then follows the overwhelming challenges faced by his successors, from the austere John Adams who spoke passionately in favor of a strong executive, to Thomas Jefferson, a zealous advocate of American liberties, to James Madison, the creator of the first political party, and James Monroe, whose Monroe Doctrine protected the sovereignty of the Western Hemisphere. It concludes with John Quincy Adams, who could be called the prophet of the expansive twentieth-century state of the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and the Great Society. The esteemed American historian William E. Leuchtenburg invites readers to revisit the years after the birth of the republic, when Americans could take pride in leaders of ideals, high competence, and integrity who headed their government--chief executives who, though not unflawed, had an abiding commitment to the success of the vulnerable government that had emerged from the revolutionary cause to which they had devoted themselves.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1. The Constitutional Convention of 1787: Framing the Presidency 2. George Washington: Launching the Presidency 3. John Adams: Preserving the Republic in Wartime 4. Thomas Jefferson: Limiting the Government while Creating an Empire 5. James Madison: Leading the Nation through the Perilous War of 1812 6. James Monroe: Enunciating a Doctrine for the Ages 7. John Quincy Adams: Advocating Activist Government Epilogue Acknowledgments Selected Bibliography Index

About the Author :
William E. Leuchtenburg is William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Over the course of six decades, he taught at Columbia University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and, as a visiting professor, at Harvard, Cornell, Duke, William and Mary, and other American universities, as well as at Oxford, where he held the Harmsworth chair. He served as presidential elections analyst for NBC and as presidential inauguration consultant for CBS, PBS, and C-SPAN. Elected president of the American Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and the Society of American Historians, he is the first recipient of the Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Award for Distinguished Writing in American History of Enduring Public Significance. He is the author of fifteen books, including The American President; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-32; Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940; In the Shadow of FDR; The White House Looks South; and The FDR Years.

Review :
From one of the greatest American historians of our time comes this absorbing book of a lifetime. All gratitude to our national treasure William Leuchtenburg, because at this troubled political moment, our country could not need his wisdom and brilliance more. I know of no one who has a greater grasp of the American presidency than William E. Leuchtenburg, who proves with each new book his mastery. Here is the beginning - the first six men who held the highest office in the land, and their landmark contributions to the machine we hope 'will go of itself' forever. This book does a very good job looking at the first six presidents, from Washington to John Quincy Adams. It looks at both each presidents' successes and failures as well as their strengths and weaknesses. It was a very unbiased look at the early presidents, one that successfully avoided any hagiography. Skillfully drawing from both original sources and subsequent historical interpretation, Leuchtenburg engagingly describes the evolution of the US presidency at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and colorfully highlights the strengths and weaknesses of its first occupants. Patriot Presidents provides a very useful overview of the development of the presidency in the early republic.