Creation of the Presidency, 1775-1789 : A Study in Constitutional History

Fresh from a battle against monarchy, the American Founders were wary of a strong executive, but they were equally conscious that unchecked legislative power risked all the excesses of democracy. Creating an effective executive who did not dominate the legislative body posed a significant challenge. In The Creation of the Presidency, 1775–1789, Charles Thach’s lucid analysis reveals how these conflicting concerns shaped the writing of the Constitution and the early clarification of executive powers.

Charles C. Thach, Jr. (1894–1966) was educated at Johns Hopkins University and received his Ph.D. in 1922. Specializing in political theory, he taught at the University of Minnesota and Johns Hopkins. He later became a Professor of Government at New York University, where he taught for over thirty years.

Forrest McDonald is Professor Emeritus of American History at the University of Alabama and author of States’ Rights and the Union.

Thach's book remains the best of its kind on its subject . . . . The Creation of the Presidency is a refreshingly short, seven-chapter book, with the core of the argument and evidence lying in the middle five chapters. Chapters 2 and 3 deal, respectively, with state and national executive power in the long decade (1776-1787) between independence and the convention.

Congress & the Presidency Journal
January - April 2012

"Many of the founding fathers had difficulty imagining an executive who could balance the possible excesses of a democratically elected legislature. How could the relationship be conducted without conflict? Thach (late government, New York U.) first published this classic in 1925 through the Johns Hopkins U. Press, and generations have studied it since for its succinct explanations of such difficult concepts as original intent. He describes the political tendencies at the first shots of the Revolution and the various intentions of those who fought in it, and the constant debates over state executive power in theory and national executive power in practice. In the core chapters Thach describes the haggling at the convention that wrote the US Constitution, and concludes with an analysis of what the hagglers really got."

Reference - Research Book News
February 2008

This volume was first published in 1923 by the Johns Hopkins University Press. For many years it has been considered required reading for anyone who hopes to comprehend the so-called "originalist" understanding of the office of the presidency and Article 2 of the Constitution; for this reason alone, this Liberty Fund reprint is a welcome find. The timing is especially auspicious, however, because many themes Thach takes up in his study of Article 2's course through the Philadelphia Convention are central to an understanding of the contemporary presidency. One such theme concerns the founders' struggle to create a vigorous executive that was still republican in character--an executive, in modern parlance, strong enough to govern but still accountable to the Constitution. As Herbert Storing noted in an introduction written in 1969 and wisely reprinted here, Thach's book is limited in some ways; probably no complete understanding of the founders' approach to the presidency can be had without consulting the Federalist Papers, for example, but this is an excellent first source. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All undergraduates."

Choice
March 2008