The Presidency and the American State: Leadership and Decision Making in the Adams, Grant, and Taft Administrations

Front Cover
University of Virginia Press, Oct 12, 2023 - History - 352 pages

Although many associate Franklin D. Roosevelt with the inauguration of the robust, dominant American presidency, the roots of his executive leadership style go much deeper. Examining the presidencies of John Quincy Adams, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Howard Taft, Stephen Rockwell traces emerging connections between presidential action and a robust state over the course of the nineteenth century and the Progressive Era.

By analyzing these three undervalued presidents’ savvy deployment of state authority and their use of administrative leadership, legislative initiatives, direct executive action, and public communication, Rockwell makes a compelling case that the nineteenth-century presidency was significantly more developed and interventionist than previously thought. As he shows for a significant number of policy arenas, the actions of Adams, Grant, and Taft touched the lives of millions of Americans and laid the foundations of what would become the American century.

 

Contents

Acknowledgments
Process Principled Innovation
President John Quincy Adams and the American State in the 1820s
Process
President Grant and the American State after the Civil
Grant Reconstruction
President Taft and the 125YearOld American State
Taft the Builder
vi
The NonDevelopment of the American Presidency and the
xxx
The American State and the Understudied Presidency
xliii
Index
68
Copyright

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Stephen J. Rockwell
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Common terms and phrases

activity Adams’s administration’s administrative agreements Alabama claims amendments American Presidency Anderson Annual Message appointed approach arbitration areas authority bill Blakey Carolina chap Civil Congress congressional conservation Constitution Creek decision Department Dollar Diplomacy efforts Ely Parker established example executive action executive orders federal government foreign gag rule Georgia goals government’s Grant Hargreaves historian Historical Review History Inaugural Address Income Tax Indian affairs Indian policy interests Internal Improvements issues John Quincy Adams Journal Justice land leaders legislation military modern Native Native Americans negotiations nineteenth century North Carolina Parker political presidential leadership Presidential Messages Presidential Power Press of Kansas principled innovator procedures proclamations Progressive Progressive era protect Prucha Reconstruction reform regulation Remini Rhetorical Presidency role Roosevelt rules Secretary Senate slavery Supreme Court Taft’s Theodore Roosevelt Tulis U.S. Army Ulysses Unger United University Press Washington West William Howard Taft wrote York

About the author (2023)

Stephen J. Rockwell is Professor of Political Science at St. Joseph’s University, New York, and the author of Indian Affairs and the Administrative State in the Nineteenth Century.

Bibliographic information

QR code for The Presidency and the American State
TitleThe Presidency and the American State: Leadership and Decision Making in the Adams, Grant, and Taft Administrations
Miller Center Studies on the Presidency
AuthorStephen J. Rockwell
PublisherUniversity of Virginia Press, 2023
ISBN0813950090, 9780813950099
Length352 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / United States / 19th Century
History / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)
  
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