The Idea of Presidential Representation: An Intellectual and Political History (American Political Thought)

Does the president represent the entire nation? Or does he speak for core partisans and narrow constituencies? The Federalist Papers , the electoral college, history and circumstance from the founders&; time to our own: all factor in theories of presidential representation, again and again lending themselves to different interpretations. This back-and-forth, Jeremy D. Bailey contends, is a critical feature, not a flaw, in American politics. Arriving at a moment of great debate over the nature and exercise of executive power, Bailey&;s history offers an invaluable, remarkably relevant analysis of the intellectual underpinnings, political usefulness, and practical merits of contending ideas of presidential representation over time. Among scholars, a common reading of political history holds that the founders, aware of the dangers of demagogy, created a singularly powerful presidency that would serve as a check on the people&;s representatives in Congress; then, this theory goes, the Progressives, impatient with such a counter-majoritarian approach, reformed the presidency to better reflect the people&;s will&;and, they reasoned, advance the public good. The Idea of Presidential Representation challenges this consensus, offering a more nuanced view of the shifting relationship between the president and the American people. Implicit in this pattern, Bailey tells us, is another equivocal relationship&;that between law and public opinion as the basis for executive power in republican constitutionalism. Tracing these contending ideas from the framers time to our own, his book provides both a history and a much-needed context for our understanding of presidential representation in light of the modern presidency. In The Idea of Presidential Representation Bailey gives us a new and useful sense of an enduring and necessary feature of our politics. "According to a classic story of American political development, the Framers created a certain kind of presidency because they appreciated the dangers of demagogy, a danger they had learned from their reading of antiquity and from their experience in the state governments. Thus the Framers did not envision a president who represents the people but instead created a president who serves as a check on the people's representatives in Congress. Furthermore, this arrangement was deliberately and fundamentally transformed by the Progressives, who were impatient with the counter-majoritarian features of constitutional design and wished to hitch policy reform to presidential leadership. While scholars disagree as to whether this change with respect to the idea of presidential representation was good or bad, the presumption that there was change is a central pillar in the literature on the modern presidency. The Idea of Presidential Representation challenges this story. In place of a before and after moment of transformation, Jeremy D. Bailey argues the evidence shows that presidential representation has long been contested and remains unsettled. He traces the history of the debate over representation from the Convention of 1787 to the disputes over the Twelfth and Twenty-second Amendments to the question of superdelegates in the wake of the 2016 election. The result is a landmark work of political science that promises to redefine the conversation for decades to come"-- Provided by publisher Frank Lloyd Wright is best known for his urban and suburban houses. Lesser known are the more than 40 summer cottages he designed in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. Many of the early summer cottages have a rustic feel and are not as easily recognized as Wright{u2019}s prolific year-round domestic designs. Among them is a stunning estate on Delavan Lake in southern Wisconsin called Penwern. Commissioned by Chicago capitalist Fred B. Jones around 1900, Penwern has received both national and state recognition. The home{u2019}s current stewards have dedicated themselves to restoring the estate to Wright{u2019}s vision, ensuring its future. Featuring beautiful color photographs, plus vintage black and white pictures and original Wright drawings, this book transports readers back to the glory days of gracious living and entertaining on the lake Introduction Presidential representation in the 1780s -- Jefferson's Federalists, Jackson's Whigs, and Lincoln's Democrats -- The progressives and presidential representation -- The National Security Constitution and presidential representation at midcentury -- Reformed Democrats and Unitarian Republicans -- -- Conclusion: Law and opinion. Arriving at a moment of great debate over the nature and exercise of executive power, Jeremy Bailey's history offers an invaluable, remarkably relevant analysis of the intellectual underpinnings, political usefulness, and practical merits of contending ideas of presidential representation over time.