Thomas Jefferson and Executive Power

Front Cover
Cambridge University Press, Jul 9, 2007 - Political Science
By revisiting Thomas Jefferson's understanding of executive power this book offers a new understanding of the origins of presidential power. Before Jefferson was elected president, he arrived at a way to resolve the tension between constitutionalism and executive power. Because his solution would preserve a strict interpretation of the Constitution as well as transform the precedents left by his Federalist predecessors, it provided an alternative to Alexander Hamilton's understanding of executive power. In fact, a more thorough account of Jefferson's political career suggests that Jefferson envisioned an executive that was powerful, or 'energetic', because it would be more explicitly attached to the majority will. Jefferson's Revolution of 1800, often portrayed as a reversal of the strong presidency, was itself premised on energy in the executive and was part of Jefferson's project to enable the Constitution to survive and even flourish in a world governed by necessity.

From inside the book

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
10
Section 2
24
Section 3
28
Section 4
44
Section 5
65
Section 6
79
Section 7
101
Section 8
102
Section 15
151
Section 16
171
Section 17
173
Section 18
187
Section 19
188
Section 20
189
Section 21
195
Section 22
225

Section 9
105
Section 10
113
Section 11
120
Section 12
130
Section 13
132
Section 14
149
Section 23
230
Section 24
232
Section 25
237
Section 26
247
Section 27
259
Section 28
262

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2007)

Jeremy D. Bailey is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston. He was the co-winner of the 2004 APSA E. E. Schattschneider Award for best dissertation in American politics written in 2002 or 2003 and has received fellowships from the International Center for Jefferson Studies at Monticello and the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.

Bibliographic information