Making the Presidency: How John Adams Created Presidential Customs for the Twenty-First Century

Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky explores the underappreciated importance of the second U.S. presidency. John Adams crafted many of the precedents that served as essential scaffolding for democratic institutions, most importantly the peaceful transfer of power. Adams’s presidency culminated in what is sometimes called the “Revolution of 1800,” which required widespread civic virtue from public officials and politicians across the political spectrum to secure the survival of the republic and continues to shape the nation to this day.