Portraits Political Personal

Author : Evert A. Duyckinck
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781330232804
Total Pages : 283 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (328 download)

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Download or read book Lives and Portraits of the Presidents of the United States, From Washington to Grant written by Evert A. Duyckinck and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-06-26 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Lives and Portraits of the Presidents of the United States, From Washington to Grant The narratives of the Lives of the Presidents of the United States will ever afford an interesting and profitable subject of study; and this not merely from their elevated position ranking them as rulers with contemporary kings, emperors, and others in chief authority; but, as representatives of a distinct and peculiar social and political organization. The hereditary sovereigns of Europe, succeeding one another by a fixed and absolute decree; educated for their position and following, for the most part, through life a uniform routine of etiquette and State policy, are spoken of in relation to families and dynasties; nor do they always represent the nationality of the countries over which they rule. They may be, as in the case of the Hanover line in England, taken from a foreign country, or as in Greece of the present day, chosen from other countries in obedience to a real or supposed political necessity of European State craft. They may be weak or able, virtuous or vicious, according to their capacity or individual tendencies, without the nation over which they rule being particularly honored in the one case or held responsible in the other. Not so in the United States. Here the Chief Magistrate, as it is our glory to call the presiding officer at the head of our system of government, being chosen by the people at short intervals, the nation becomes directly responsible for his intelligence and virtue. The prejudices of party, the accidents of political intrigue, occasional deference to what is termed expediency, may, indeed, direct the election so that the successful candidate may fall short, as a representative man, of the character of the people in its highest and best development. It is by no means to be expected that the best adapted or qualified man will be chosen every four years to the Presidency. In all human affairs it frequently happens that the right man is not in the right place. But generally speaking, making due allowance for inevitable exceptions the country may be rightfully judged by the character of the man deliberately chosen by the people to the post of highest authority. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.