Waubonsee Community College

The failure of the founding fathers, Jefferson, Marshall, and the rise of presidential democracy, Bruce Ackerman

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

contains biographical information

index present

non fiction

The failure of the founding fathers

bibliography

58919429

Bruce Ackerman

Jefferson, Marshall, and the rise of presidential democracy

Describes previously unknown aspects of the electoral college crisis of 1800, presenting a revised understanding ofthe early days of two great institutions that continue to have a major impact on American history: the plebiscitarian presidency and a Supreme Court that struggles to put the presidency's claims of a popular mandate into constitutional perspective. Through close studies of two Supreme Court cases, Ackerman shows how the court integrated Federalist and Republican themes into the living Constitution of the early republic. The ink was barely dry on the Constitution when it was almost destroyed by the rise of political parties in the United States. As Bruce Ackerman shows, the Framers had not anticipated the two-party system, and when Republicans battled Federalists for the presidency in1800, the rules laid down by the Constitution exacerbated the crisis. [Publisher web site]

1: The people's president -- American on the brink -- The original misunderstanding -- John Marshall for president -- Jefferson counts himself in -- On the brink -- What went right? -- 2: The people and the court -- Constitutional brinksmanship -- Federalist counterattack -- Republican triumph -- Marbury v. Stuart -- Presidential purge -- Synthesis -- Reverberations -- Documents: Horatius's presidential knot -- Judge Bassett's protest