Abstract
What would Alexander Hamilton, the founders’ leading exponent of executive power, and Abraham Lincoln, the first president to have developed the concept of executive power along lines suggested by Hamilton, say about the Trump presidency? In this essay, I consider how Hamilton and Lincoln understood the relationship of the government to the people. I then describe their actions to define, enhance, and maintain that government. While Hamilton and Lincoln could imagine the possibility of an unscrupulous “man of the people,” such as Donald Trump, arising, their standard was a strong president serving the well-being of the country and not his personal ambitions. They both knew that our constitutional republic, even with its checks and balances, relies on, even requires, the good character and intelligence of the president and the country’s primary officials to protect and maintain good government.
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Notes
- 1.
This phrase comes from his “House Divided” Speech, delivered June 16, 1858, at Springfield, Illinois. Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings, selected by Don Fehrenbacher, introduction by Gore Vidal, (Library of America paperback classic, 2009), p. 131.
- 2.
The Federalist, edited by Robert Scigliano (Modern Library 2001), Federalist 1, pp. 5–6.
- 3.
Max Farrand, ed. Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, 1937 revised edition in four volumes, (Yale 1966), volume 1, pp. 288, 290.
- 4.
Federalist 72, in Scigliano, pp. 464–5
- 5.
Ibid., volume 1, p. 147.
- 6.
4 Wheaton 116 (1819).
- 7.
Morton J. Frisch, ed. The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates, p. 1, from Papers of Alexander Hamilton, 27 volumes, edited by Harold C. Syrett et. al. (Columbia UP, 1961–1987) vol. 14, 308–309.
- 8.
Pacificus #1 in Frisch, pp. 12–15.
- 9.
Pacificus #1, in Frisch, p. 11.
- 10.
Ron Chernow, Alexander Hamilton, (Penguin Books, 2004) p. 488.
- 11.
Ibid., p. 506.
- 12.
Richard Carwardine, Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power, (Vintage Books, 2007) p. 197; Carwardine’s source is F.B. Carpenter, The Inner Life of Abraham Lincoln: Six Months at the White House, pp. 281–2.
- 13.
Carwardine, Preface, p. X.
- 14.
Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings, selected by Don Fehrenbacher, introduction by Gore Vidal, (Library of America paperback classic, 2009), p. 19.
- 15.
Ibid., p. 96.
- 16.
Ibid., p. 131, (June 16, 1858).
- 17.
Paul M. Angle, ed. The Complete Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (University of Chicago press, 1958) pp. 171–172.
- 18.
Abraham Lincoln: Selected Speeches and Writings, p. 95.
- 19.
Ibid., p. 170.
- 20.
See his letter to John A. Gilmer, December 15, 1860, in ibid., p. 274.
- 21.
Ibid., pp. 304, 307.
- 22.
While he still favors colonization, Lincoln points out that “equally distributed among the whites of the whole country … there would be but one colored to seven whites. Could the one, in any way, greatly disturb the seven?” see Special Message to Congress, December 1, 1862, in ibid., p. 362.
- 23.
The Atlantic’s cover features the three articles under the heading “The Trump Presidency: A Damage Report.” Goldsmith’s essay is entitled “Will Donald Trump Destroy the Presidency?” It appears on pages 58–66.
- 24.
Cohen’s essay is entitled “Is Trump Ending the American Era?” It appears on pp. 68–73. The quoted passages are on p. 73.
- 25.
Coates’ presentation, “The First White President,” is part of his new book, We Were Eight Years in Power. It appears on pages 74–87. The quoted passage is from p. 76.
References
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Chernow, Ron. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin Books, 2004.
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “The Whitest White House.” Atlantic, October 2017, 74–84.
Cohen, Eliot A. “Sudden Decline of a Superpower.” Atlantic, October 2017, 68–73.
Farrand, Max, ed. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787. Revised ed. in 4 Volumes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966.
Frisch, Morton J., ed. The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793–1794, from Papers of Alexander Hamilton, 27 Volumes. Edited by Harold C. Syrett, et al. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961–1987.
Goldsmith, Jack. “Will American Democracy Recover?” Atlantic, October 2017, 58–66.
Hamilton, Alexander, James Madison, and John Jay. The Federalist: A Commentary on the Constitution of the United States. Modern ed. Edited by Robert Scigliano. New York: Modern Library, 2001.
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Dry, M. (2018). American Constitutionalism from Hamilton to Lincoln to Trump. In: Jaramillo Torres, A., Sable, M. (eds) Trump and Political Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74445-2_12
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