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✩ The Presidents ✩
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Constitution
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The Presidents
and the
Constitution
A Living History
Edited by
Ken Gormley
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
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NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
www.nyupress.org
© 2016 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the au-
thor nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed
since the manuscript was prepared.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gormley, Ken, editor.
Title: The Presidents and the Constitution : a living history / edited by Ken Gormley.
Description: New York : New York University Press, 2016. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015043555 | ISBN 9781479839902 (cl : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Executive power—United States—History. |
Presidents—United States—History. | Constitutional history—United States.
Classification: LCC KF5053 .P75 2016 | DDC 342.73/062—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043555
New York University Press books are printed on acid- free paper, and their binding materials
are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers
and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also available as an ebook
This book is dedicated to the law students, graduate students, and
undergraduates at the authors’ respective universities and colleges
whose interest in, and enthusiasm for, the topic of American presi-
dents and the Constitution has inspired the telling of this impor-
tant story. The editor additionally dedicates this book to his wife,
Laura Kozler Gormley, their children— Carolyn, Luke, Becca, and
Maddy—a nd their two puppies, Gracie and Simba, who endured
years’ worth of boxes piled up in the study, along with nights and
weekends listening to nonstop stories about obscure presidents, as
the book took shape. It may not be the same as serving as president
of the United States, but being co- chief executive of this wonderful
family—a lbeit with limited powers, in a much smaller white house
in Pittsburgh—i s the greatest honor imaginable.
— Ken Gormley
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, February 2015
Contents
Introduction: An Unfinished Presidency 1
Ken Gormley
Part I. The Founding Era
1. George Washington............17
Richard J. Ellis
2. John Adams ..................34
Louis Fisher
3. Thomas Jefferson..............47
Cliff Sloan, Louis Fisher,
and Moshe Spinowitz
4. James Madison................61
Ralph Ketcham
5. James Monroe ................75
Gary Hart
6. John Quincy Adams............89
Jonathan L. Entin
Part II. The Age of Jackson
7. Andrew Jackson ..............103
Mark A. Graber
8. Martin Van Buren ............116
Michael J. Gerhardt
[ vi ]
Contents
9. William Henry Harrison .......126
David Marks Shribman
10. John Tyler...................136
Robert J. Spitzer
11. James K. Polk ................149
Frank J. Williams
Part III. The Pre– Civil War Era
12. Zachary Taylor...............161
Paul Finkelman
13. Millard Fillmore..............173
Joseph F. Rishel
14. Franklin Pierce...............181
Paul Finkelman
15. James Buchanan..............194
Thomas A. Horrocks
Part IV. Civil War and Reconstruction
16. Abraham Lincoln.............211
William D. Pederson
17. Andrew Johnson..............227
Michael Les Benedict
18. Ulysses S. Grant..............239
John F. Marszalek
[ vii ]
Contents
Part V. The Gilded Age
19. Rutherford B. Hayes............253
Michael A. Ross
20. James A. Garfield..............266
Thomas C. Sutton
21. Chester A. Arthur..............276
Thomas C. Sutton
22. Grover Cleveland, First Term.....288
Donald Grier Stephenson Jr.
23. Benjamin Harrison.............297
Allan B. Spetter
24. Grover Cleveland, Second Term...308
Donald Grier Stephenson Jr.
25. William McKinley .............316
Thomas C. Sutton
Part VI. The Progressive Era
26. Theodore Roosevelt ............331
William D. Bader
27. William Howard Taft...........343
Francine Sanders Romero
Part VII. World War I and the
Great Depression
28. Woodrow Wilson..............357
Saladin M. Ambar
29. Warren G. Harding ............371
James D. Robenalt
30. Calvin Coolidge ...............385
John W. Johnson and Dale E. P. Yurs
31. Herbert Hoover ...............395
John Q. Barrett
[ viii ]
Contents
Part VIII. The New Deal and World War II
32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt......409
William D. Pederson
33. Harry S. Truman..............427
James N. Giglio
Part IX. The Civil Rights Era
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower.........443
Richard V. Damms
35. John F. Kennedy..............459
Barbara A. Perry
36. Lyndon B. Johnson............473
John L. Bullion
Part X. The Watergate Era and Reform
37. Richard M. Nixon ............491
Stanley Kutler
38. Gerald R. Ford...............507
Jeffrey Crouch
39. Jimmy Carter ................521
Scott Kaufman
Part XI. New Conservatives, New Democrats,
and Polarization
40. Ronald Reagan...............539
Kenneth W. Starr
41. George H. W. Bush ...........557
Lori Cox Han
42. William Jefferson Clinton ......570
Ken Gormley
[ ix ]
