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Overview
In this sweepingly ambitious volume, the nation’s foremost experts on the American presidency and the U.S. Constitution join together to tell the intertwined stories of how each American president has confronted and shaped the Constitution. Each occupant of the office—the first president to the forty-fourth—has contributed to the story of the Constitution through the decisions he made and the actions he took as the nation’s chief executive.
By examining presidential history through the lens of constitutional conflicts and challenges, The Presidents and the Constitution offers a fresh perspective on how the Constitution has evolved in the hands of individual presidents. It delves into key moments in American history, from Washington’s early battles with Congress to the advent of the national security presidency under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to reveal the dramatic historical forces that drove these presidents to action. Historians and legal experts, including Richard Ellis, Gary Hart, Stanley Kutler and Kenneth Starr, bring the Constitution to life, and show how the awesome powers of the American presidency have been shapes by the men who were granted them. The book brings to the fore the overarching constitutional themes that span this country’s history and ties together presidencies in a way never before accomplished.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781479839902 |
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Publisher: | New York University Press |
Publication date: | 05/10/2016 |
Pages: | 672 |
Product dimensions: | 6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 2.10(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Introduction: An Unfinished Presidency Ken Gormley 1
Part I The Founding Era
1 George Washington Richard J. Ellis 17
2 John Adams Louis Fisher 34
3 Thomas Jefferson Cliff Sloan Louis Fisher Moshe Spinowitz 47
4 James Madison Ralph Ketcham 61
5 James Monroe Gary Hart 75
6 John Quincy Adams Jonathan L. Entin 89
Part II The Age of Jackson
7 Andrew Jackson Mark A. Graber 103
8 Martin Van Buren Michael J. Gerhardt 116
9 William Henry Harrison David Marks Shribman 126
10 John Tyler Robert J. Spitzer 136
11 James K. Polk Frank J. Williams 149
Part III The Pre-Civil War Era
12 Zachary Taylor Paul Finkelman 161
13 Millard Fillmore Joseph F. Rishel 173
14 Franklin Pierce Paul Finkelman 181
15 James Buchanan Thomas A. Horrocks 194
Part IV Civil War and Reconstruction
16 Abraham Lincoln William D. Pederson 211
17 Andrew Johnson Michael Les Benedict 227
18 Ulysses S. Grant John F. Marszalek 239
Part V The Gilded Age
19 Rutherford B. Hayes Michael A. Ross 253
20 James A. Garfield Thomas C. Sutton 266
21 Chester A. Arthur Thomas C. Sutton 276
22 Grover Cleveland, First Term Donald Grier Stephenson Jr. 288
23 Benjamin Harrison Allan B. Spetter 297
24 Grover Cleveland, Second Term Donald Grier Stephenson Jr. 308
25 William McKinley Thomas C. Sutton 316
Part VI The Progressive Era
26 Theodore Roosevelt William D. Bader 331
27 William Howard Taft Francine Sanders Romero 343
Part VII World war I and the Great Depression
28 Woodrow Wilson Saladin M. Ambar 357
29 Warren G. Harding James D. Robenalt 371
30 Calvin Coolidge John W. Johnson Dale E. P. Yurs 385
31 Herbert Hoover John Q. Barrett 395
Part VIII The New Deal and World War II
32 Franklin Delano Roosevelt William D. Pederson 409
33 Harry S. Truman James N. Giglio 427
Part IX The Civil Rights Era
34 Dwight D. Eisenhower Richard V. Damms 443
35 John F. Kennedy Barbara A. Perry 459
36 Lyndon B. Johnson John L. Bullion 473
Part X The Watergate Era and Reform
37 Richard M. Nixon Stanley Kutler 491
38 Gerald R. Ford Jeffrey Crouch 507
39 Jimmy Carter Scott Kaufman 521
Part XI New Conservatives, New Democrats, and Polarization
40 Ronald Reagan Kenneth W. Starr 539
41 George H.W. Bush Lori Cox Han 557
42 William Jefferson Clinton Ken Gormley 570
Part XII National Security Era: Post-9/11
43 George W. Bush Benjamin A. Kleinerman 589
44 Barack Obama Michael J. Gerhardt 605
Conclusion: An Evolving American Presidency Ken Gormley 623
Acknowledgements 657
About the Contributors 659
Photo Credits 667
Index 671