Preface
Chapter 1 The Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention
Chapter 2 Creating the Presidency
The Making of the Presidency: An Overview
Institutional Separation from Congress
Ratifying the Constitution
Chapter 3 Bringing the Constitutional Presidency to Life: George Washington and John Adams
The Election of George Washington
Making the Presidency Safe for Democracy
Forming the Executive and Judicial Branches
Presidential “Supremacy” and the Conduct of the Executive Branch
Presidential Nonpartisanship and the Beginning of Party Conflict
Washington’s Retirement and the Jay Treaty: The Constitutional Crisis of 1796
The Embattled Presidency of John Adams
The Alien and Sedition Acts
Chapter 4 The Triumph of Jeffersonianism
Jefferson’s War with the Judiciary
The Democratic-Republican Program and the Adjustment to Power
The Limits of “Popular” Leadership
The Presidency of James Madison and the Rise of the House of Representatives
The Presidency of James Monroe
Chapter 5 The Age of Jackson
The Rise of the Party Convention
Jackson’s Struggle with Congress
The Aftermath of the Bank Veto
The Decline of the Cabinet
The Limits of the Jacksonian Presidency
Martin Van Buren and the Panic of 1837
The Jacksonian Presidency Sustained
John Tyler and the Problem of Presidential Succession
The Presidency of James K. Polk
The Slavery Controversy and the Twilight of the Jacksonian Presidency
Chapter 6 The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln and the Slavery Controversy
Lincoln’s Wartime Measures
The Emancipation Proclamation
Chapter 7 The Reaction against Presidential Power: Andrew Johnson to William McKinley
Reconstruction and the Assault on Executive Authority
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant and the Abdication of Executive Power
The Fight to Restore Presidential Power
Congressional Government and the Prelude to a More Active Presidency
Chapter 8 Progressive Politics and Executive Power: The Presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson
Theodore Roosevelt and the Expansion of Executive Power
The Troubled Presidency of William Howard Taft
Progressive Politics and the Elections of 1912
Woodrow Wilson’s Theory of Executive Leadership
The Art of Popular Leadership
Wilson’s Relations with Congress
Chapter 9 The Triumph of Conservative Republicanism
The “Silent” Politics of Calvin Coolidge
Herbert C. Hoover and the Great Depression
Chapter 10 The Consolidation of the Modern Presidency: Franklin D. Roosevelt to Dwight D. Eisenhower
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency
The Modern Presidency Sustained: Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower
Chapter 11 Personalizing the Presidency: John F. Kennedy to Jimmy Carter
John F. Kennedy and the Rise of the “Personal Presidency”
Lyndon B. Johnson and Presidential Government
The Twenty-Fifth Amendment
The Presidency of Richard Nixon
Gerald R. Ford and the Post-Watergate Era
Chapter 12 A Restoration of Presidential Power? Ronald Reagan and George Bush
Chapter 13 Bill Clinton and the Modern Presidency
The First Year of the Clinton Presidency
The 1994 Elections and the Restoration of Divided Government
Balanced Budgets, Impeachment Politics, and the Limits of the Third Way
Chapter 14 George W. Bush and Unilateral Presidential Power
The Early Months of the Bush Presidency
September 11 and the War on Terrorism
Bush and the Republican Party
Partisanship and Unilateralism at the Twilight of the Bush Presidency
Chapter 15 Barack Obama and Presidential Leadership in Polarized Times
The New Foundation and Partisan Rancor
We Can’t Wait: Obama and the Administrative Presidency
Obama’s Reelection and the Perils of Partisanship
Obama, Partisanship, and the War on Terrorism
Barack Obama’s Fragile Legacy
Chapter 16 The Trump Presidency and Resilience of Constitutional Government
Forming the Administration
Trump’s Administrative Presidency
The Rhetorical Presidency
Chapter 17 The Vice Presidency
The Vice Presidency in the Nineteenth Century
Theodore Roosevelt to Harry S. Truman
The Modern Vice Presidency
Appendix
Constitution of the United States
U.S. Presidents and Vice Presidents
Summary of Presidential Elections, 1789–2016
Index