President of the United States

A

George Washington

As the first president, George Washington understood that his every action would set a precedent for future administrations and that his mistakes could doom the young United States. Since the Constitution describes the role of the president in just five paragraphs, Washington knew that the success of the presidency would depend in large measure on how he defined the role for his successors. He described his dilemma as “entering upon an unexplored field, enveloped on every side with clouds and darkness.”

Washington succeeded in setting a dignified yet unpretentious tone for the presidency. In an effort to establish the importance of the office without making it aloof from the people, Washington rejected John Adams’s suggestion that the president be called, “His Highness, the President of the United States, and Protector of Their Liberties.” Instead Washington settled for the term, “Mr. President,” which he felt struck a proper balance between the authority of the president and the democratic character of the country.

At a more substantive level, Washington saw the need to establish the primacy of the federal government over the states. In 1794, for example, Washington dispatched troops to western Pennsylvania to put down a rebellion against a federal whiskey tax, demonstrating the supremacy of federal law and the authority of the president (see Whiskey Rebellion). Washington also tried to assert the authority of the presidency over Congress. When making treaties with foreign countries, for example, he established the rule that presidents seek the advice and consent of the Senate not before or during negotiations, but only after a treaty had been made.

B

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson’s election in 1800 marked the first time that an incumbent party lost the White House. The election was marked by bitter conflict between the major political parties of the day, the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists. Jefferson, a Democratic-Republican, won the presidency based on the strength of his party, but he sought to minimize the country’s partisan conflicts. Jefferson declared in his first inaugural address in 1801, “We are all republicans—we are all federalists,” meaning that party attachment was secondary to national identity.

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At the same time, however, Jefferson used the presidency to champion a legislative agenda that reflected the Democratic-Republican view of the national interest. Through his domination of his party’s congressional caucus, which then controlled the principal legislative committees in Congress, Jefferson won passage of economic measures that decentralized power and favored the agricultural and rural areas over industrial and urban interests. Jefferson’s successful legislative initiative established the principle that the president could be both party leader and the country’s chief executive.

Jefferson’s most dramatic action was the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which added more than 2,100,000 sq km (more than 800,000 sq mi) of land to the United States. Jefferson had no constitutional authority to buy the territory from France, but he saw landholding and farming as essential to the country’s future. Jefferson called the purchase “an act beyond the Constitution,” but Congress eventually appropriated funds and approved the land deal. Jefferson’s vision of a larger, more prosperous country, joined with his political pragmatism to produce an act of exceptional presidential leadership. The bold decision to push forward with the Louisiana Purchase demonstrated that presidential power went beyond the narrowly worded passages in the Constitution, and that the authority of the office depends in part on the person in power.

C

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson’s term as president from 1829 to 1837 reshaped American political life. He successfully pushed for a more democratic political process, and he asserted the supremacy of the federal government over the states. With Jackson’s administration, national political parties took control of the selection of presidential candidates, marking the end of congressional control of the process. Jackson stood at the head of the new Democratic Party, and his election ushered in the era of modern political parties.

As president, Jackson generated widespread popular support by fighting the Bank of the United States, an institution identified with privileged interests. Jackson spoke for aspiring businessmen, farmers, and urban workers, rather than the well-to-do. His veto blocking the recharter of the bank in 1832 struck a chord with these constituencies and helped assure his reelection later in the year. He called the bank a privileged monopoly and pledged his opposition to the “prostitution of our government to the advancement of the few at the expense of the many.”

Jackson also asserted the authority of the federal government and the president over the states. South Carolina claimed that states could nullify federal laws at their own discretion and refused to collect a federally mandated tariff. Fearing for the integrity of the country, Jackson fought South Carolina’s stance, forcing the state to compromise on the tariff and to dispense with the nullification doctrine.

Another landmark in Jackson’s administration came in 1832 when the president defied an explicit order of the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote a majority opinion barring Georgia from removing the Cherokee Indians from the state. Jackson supported Georgia’s effort to remove the Indians and reportedly said, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” Jackson secured congressional funding for the massive removal program, which forced 18,000 to 20,000 Native Americans to move west, taking the lives of about 4,000 along the way. His defiance of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the issue showed that the Constitution’s formal separation of powers would not in itself rein in a determined president.

D

Abraham Lincoln

Some historians rank Abraham Lincoln as the country’s greatest president. Lincoln’s term of office from 1861 to 1865 rested on his conviction that he needed to stop the South from seceding and to preserve republican government, as “the last best hope of mankind.” Southern states seceded from the United States in 1860 and 1861, leading to the Civil War (1861-1865), the greatest crisis in the nation’s history. Lincoln reacted by exerting his presidential authority to the fullest measure.

Without congressional sanction, he increased the armed forces beyond the limits established by law, and spent millions of dollars for which no congressional appropriations had been made. Lincoln also emancipated the slaves in the rebellious Southern states and issued presidential decrees to begin Reconstruction—the process of rebuilding the south’s tattered political and economic system. Most disturbing to some of his critics, he suspended the right of habeas corpus—the right against arbitrary imprisonment. Lincoln justified many of his actions as a legitimate exercise of his powers as commander in chief of the armed forces, and declared that he was motivated by the necessity of preserving the Constitution. He said: “I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the Constitution through the preservation of the nation.”

Lincoln’s prescription for presidential effectiveness was to avoid inflexible positions. As he told Congress in an annual message, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” His Emancipation Proclamation of September 1862, which declared slaves in rebel areas to be free, was a case in point. He saw “no constitutional or legal justification, except as a military measure,” for the proclamation. But that was enough for him. Lincoln’s presidency marked one of the most aggressive presidential seizures of power in American history, but his actions also illustrated the importance of strong leadership in times of national crisis.

E

Early 20th Century

For 35 years after Lincoln, assertive congressional leaders took prominence over the presidency. When Republican Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency in 1901, he was determined to use the power and prominence of the office as a “bully pulpit” to achieve his domestic and foreign policy objectives. Through swift action and bold statements, Roosevelt restored the presidency to its former stature. He interpreted the Constitution loosely, to do “many things not previously done by the president and the heads of departments. I did not usurp power,” he said, “but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power.”

In domestic affairs, Roosevelt championed the Progressive Movement, which aimed at breaking up concentrations of economic and political power that undermined democracy and equality of opportunity. Roosevelt’s commitment to racial equality led him to invite American educator Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House in October 1901, the first time an African American had dined at the executive mansion. Southern newspapers lambasted Roosevelt, suggesting that the invitation would lead other African Americans to expect social equality. Washington’s visit to the White House cost Roosevelt political support in the South, but he still maneuvered an impressive legislative agenda through Congress. Roosevelt pressed Congress to regulate railroads, the food and drug industries, and to increase environmental protections. The success of his domestic program, which he termed a Square Deal, made him the most popular president between Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt.

In foreign affairs, Roosevelt argued that it was best to “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” He advocated a diplomatic policy, in other words, that remained open to compromise, but that was ultimately backed by military force. He bolstered the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, and used the threat of force to zealously defend American interests in Alaska, Asia, and Latin America. Determined to create a canal joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in Latin America, Roosevelt supported a revolution in Colombia in 1903 to obtain the necessary land. Colombia ceded the territory to Panama, and Roosevelt immediately directed construction of the Panama Canal, which became United States property. Roosevelt asserted American dominance in global affairs through many other initiatives, including his successful mediation of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

After Roosevelt, Democrat Woodrow Wilson was the next president to make a major mark on the office. Winning election in 1912, Wilson continued to expand presidential power and influence in the United States and abroad. Wilson said before assuming the presidency, “The President is at liberty, both in law and conscience, to be as big a man as he can. His capacity will set the limit.”

Wilson had considerable capacity. His domestic policy agenda, which he called the New Freedom, included progressive reforms that greatly expanded the role of the federal government. Many of the reforms remained in place generations later. He created the Federal Reserve System to govern banks, for example, and the system still follows principles established during his presidency. Wilson advocated regulations to ensure that one company or group of companies did not monopolize an entire industry, resulting in the establishment of the Federal Trade Commission in 1914. Following the end of World War I (1914-1918), Wilson led the effort to avoid new wars through the League of Nations. Although the league ultimately failed, in his efforts to build support for the organization Wilson elaborated a vision of international consultation and negotiation that remains a global ideal.

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