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Although the framers gave the president little authority, George Washington knew whatever he did would set precedents for generations of future leaders. To ensure their ability to defend the nation, he simply ignored the Constitution when he thought it necessary.
In a revealing new look at the birth of American government, “Mr. President” describes Washington’s presidency in a time of continual crisis, as rebellion and attacks by foreign enemies threatened to destroy this new nation. Constantly weighing preservation of the Union against preservation of individual liberties and states’ rights, Washington assumed more power with each crisis. In a series of brilliant but unconstitutional maneuvers he forced Congress to cede control of the four pillars of executive power: war, finance, foreign affairs, and law enforcement.
Drawing on rare documents and letters, Unger shows how Washington combined political cunning and sheer genius to seize ever-widening powers, impose law and order while ensuring individual freedom, and shape the office of President of the United States.
- Sales Rank: #258774 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-10-29
- Released on: 2013-10-29
- Format: Kindle eBook
- Number of items: 1
Review
''With telling precision, this revisionist presidential history describes how the Founding Father leveraged control of war, finance, foreign affairs, and law enforcement from an often resistant Congress. A revealing new look at a presidency that set a new standard. '' --Barnes & Noble, editorial review
''In the early days of his presidency, Washington found himself bored and idle, yet as acclaimed historian Unger reveals in this fast-paced chronicle of Washington's presidency, circumstances soon arose that would allow him to define and shape the executive office . . . After three years in office, Washington had 'transformed the office of the president from that of an impotent figurehead to one that commanded almost as much power as the British king he had overthrown ... at Yorktown.' '' --Publishers Weekly
''What starts out as a hagiographic testimony to George Washington matures into the thorough treatment readers expect from prolific history writer Unger . . . A highly focused book concentrating on a small but significant part of the evolution of American government.'' --Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
HARLOW GILES UNGER, a former distinguished visiting fellow in American history at George Washington's Mount Vernon, is a veteran journalist, broadcaster, educator, and historian. He is the author of more than twenty books, including several biographies of the Founding Fathers. He has also authored histories of the early Republic as well as numerous books on American education. He lives in New York.
Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
A Bit argumentative, but interesting
By David W. Nicholas
History comes in several flavors. Most popular is the sort that tells a story from our past, something that was more or less obscured until the author retells it. Perhaps the story is familiar, but if the author doesn’t have some sort of new angle or twist to put on the story, he’s going to have a hard time getting published, or get anyone to read his book. There are other sorts of history, of course, including the sort where the author writes a whole book to make a point, rewrite things in some crucial fashion, essentially reinterpret or even reimagine history for us. “Mr. President” by Giles Unger is that sort of book. The author very deliberately sets out to reinterpret the presidency of George Washington, and not always in the most favorable light.
It’s the author’s premise that what we see now of Presidential power is an overreach that began when George Washington was in office. To Unger’s mind, the Constitution was vague on what various things meant, and how the President would in the future implement the things he was told to do, along with how he was to do them. According to Unger, Washington was bored in the early days of his presidency, and as he was confronted with problems, he more or less invented ways to deal with problems. Some of Unger’s arguments work pretty well, while others border on the absurd: for instance, the president lacked the power to issue a proclamation asserting the nation was at peace…at a time when the nation was at peace. It’s all a bit of a stretch.
As a friend of mine pointed out, the Constitutional Convention operated with everyone in the room knowing who the first president was going to be. He sat there in the room presiding over it, and so it’s hard to imagine that he helped write the Constitution, and then essentially subverted its meaning just a few years later. It’s likely that when they wrote the clauses dealing with the Presidency, the whole convention knew he would be President first, and establish some precedents that would restrict future holders of the office. Unger’s argument, while interesting, ignores this feature of the whole argument more or less completely.
This is still a good book, and worth reading. I’d recommend it, especially to those interested in early United States history.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Compelling read marred by occasional distortion of the facts
By Ricardo Mio
This book has everything going for it but a balanced perspective of history. It reads well. It's reasonably footnoted. If you're looking for short, one-volume history of George Washington's presidency that reads like a novel, Unger's 234-page book delivers. If you're a student of early American history, however, you'll find on some occasions the author distorts the truth to drive home a particular point of view.
The publisher may be partly to blame. Too many histories and biographies written today for general consumption begin with a provocative premise to generate reader interest. That's fine, but sometimes they overreach. Unger's book begins with the premise that throughout the colonies angry mobs "swelled into an army ready to fight for independence . . . and not from Britain--but from the United States!" Provocative, yes, but is it true? It is, but not to the degree that Unger would have us believe. Most Americans were angry with the Confederation Congress for failing to resolve the nation's crushing war debt and resultant economic depression; for not making good its promise to pay the army in full; and for not regulating interstate commerce. The call for a national convention to revise the Articles of Confederation was made for these reasons and these reasons alone.
Unger doesn't stop there. He adds: "tens of thousands of American farmers vilified President George Washington, his government, Congress, the courts, and the army--much as they had vilified George III, the British Parliament, and the Redcoats two decades earlier in 1776." Absolutely not true. Apart from Shays's Rebellion, which was easily put down, a few elected leaders in New York and Virginia had a great deal to lose should Washington and the newly elected Congress take office, such as George Clinton and Patrick Henry. These were the anti-Federalists, a small but vocal minority of aristocrats who tried and failed to rally support to their cause. Their repeated calls for a second national convention to restore all power to the states fell on deaf ears.
American farmers did not vilify Washington; far from it. They wanted to make him king. Later in the book, on page 62-3, Unger would seem to endorse this fact (and contradict himself) in describing how farmers turned out by the tens of thousands to cheer Washington along the 250-mile route from Mount Vernon to New York City to take office as President. At one point, a crown-like wreath was placed on his head, which he quickly removed.
My other problem with Unger's book is his depiction of Washington as rash and easily bored. As commander-in-chief, General Washington seldom acted without first consulting his inner circle. As president, he was just as cautious. He stood in judgement of history and knew it. He valued the advice of his closest advisors, especially the advice of James Madison on matters pertaining to the U.S. Constitution, and Alexander Hamilton, who devised the "Implied Powers Doctrine" that greatly expanded the powers of the presidency.
Washington was a delegator. Judging by the amount of work that got done during his presidency, he was one of the very best delegators to ever hold the office of president. Let Madison, Hamilton and Jefferson sweat the details. As Washington well knew, they were brilliant men--and THEY answered to him. He read their reports and policy papers, amended them as he saw fit, sent them on to Congress and let the democratic process run its course.
A great deal was accomplished during Washington's presidency: making provision for the public debt; creation of the Bank of the United States (forerunner of today's Federal Reserve); revival of the national economy; creation of the executive offices of state, war and treasury; ratification of the Bill of Rights; and creation of the Supreme Court and Federal Judiciary System. Unger covers all these accomplishments smartly and with a minimum of words while making it clear that Washington deserves much of the credit. Unger's book reads as smoothly as a good novel, and he makes Washington a compelling flesh-and-blood hero. Amen to that. Four stars, despite some liberties taken with the facts.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Pillars of Power
By VA Duck
Author Harlow Giles Unger's book is a biography of the first presidency; not a biography of George Washington's life, but rather his ground breaking office as the new nation's first president. Unger illustrates the remarkable transformation of the presidency from one only vaguely defined in the words of the Constitution, to a far more vigorous, powerful office by the end of Washington's 2nd term. Unger points out "seven pillars of power" established by Washington - which have defined the U.S. Presidency for the last 217 years. The book takes the reader through the events of founding era history which were the stimuli for the reactions that resulted in the "seven pillars of power".
Unger has a punchy style to his writing; a style that can cause the reader to think, favorably, of a lecture. The book is relatively brief, leaving no time for the development of a conclusion through the traditional, minor premise - major premise - conclusion sequence of events. Sometimes (often?) conclusions are presented without the soothing effect of an author directing his reader's perception through examples, parallels, analogies, and consensus. Unger frequently relies on the device of "induced drama" to bring additional interest to the story line, but it can often be confusing for the reader to separate fact from Unger's dramatic embellishment.
There are a few spots in the book that move too fast to a conclusion with NO offered evidence. Not always omissions that directly impact the book's thesis, nonetheless the reader's confidence in his author can be diminished by bluster. Examples: a) Washington "shredded the instructions of Congress" as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and yet Washington's active role at the Convention is scant by the measure of its best gauge - Farrand's, The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Vol. 1; b) Charles Pinckney "shoots up from his chair", in Unger's dramatization, aghast that the Virginia Plan "meant to abolish state government altogether?", and yet Pinckney is known to have offered a very similar plan of his own, even PRIOR to the Virginia Plan. His actual interrogative (see, Farrand, Vol 1, loc. 865, Wed, May 30th) has far less astonishment than portrayed here); c) Edmund Randolph's change from anti Federalist to Federalist is resolved by Unger as the result of Washington's bribe of the Attorney Generalship in his new administration. Here a citation would have been nothing less than a treasure, and yet nothing is offered. Certainly no such political maneuvere is even hinted in John J. Reardon's, Edmund Randolph: A biography. Pauline Maier makes NO mention of a quid pro quo, job-for-vote in her brilliant book, Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788!
These shortcuts, and dramatic embellishments and (too many) more like them, remove one star for uncertain veracity. Ironically the embellishments are rarely central to the author's theme anyway. Still - the read is informative and pleasurable and Unger convincingly establishes his thesis of Washington's "seven pillars of power". A highly recommended read, but if this is a first-read of Washington - do seek other perspectives afterward.
-----kindle edition-----
A well done e-book containing a properly linked table of contents, a hyper-linked index and a very useful bibliography. The book contains a few illustrations although their quality is marginal even on the Fire HDX and certainly less so on the e-Ink readers. Text to Speech is enabled, but disappointingly there are no page numbers. I found no typographical errors. e-Book publication quality for DA CAPO Press ★★★★☆, good job.
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