“In this important and illuminating study, Lindsay Chervinsky has given us an original angle of vision on the foundations and development of something we all take for granted: the president’s Cabinet.”
―Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America
“Fantastic…Unlike many works of popular history, The Cabinet never feels like a hagiography. It lacks the reverence of works like Joseph J. Ellis’s Founding Brothers or the revisionist obsequiousness that now greets Alexander Hamilton’s name on the page and the stage…[Chervinsky] exemplifies the public-history ethos in her new book. The writing is clear and concise…She takes what could have been a dry institutional and political history of the Early Republic and transforms it into a compelling story of people and places.”
— THE NEW CRITERION
Awards & Recognition
Thomas J. Wilson Memorial Prize
Daughters of the American Revolution Excellence in History Prize
Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year Award Finalist
The US Constitution never established a presidential cabinet—the delegates to the Constitutional Convention explicitly rejected the idea. So how did George Washington create one of the most powerful bodies in the federal government?
On November 26, 1791, George Washington convened his department secretaries—Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox, and Edmund Randolph—for the first cabinet meeting. Why did he wait two and a half years into his presidency to call his cabinet? Because the US Constitution did not create or provide for a presidential cabinet. Washington was on his own.
Faced with diplomatic crises, domestic insurrections, and constitutional challenges—and finding congressional help lacking—Washington decided he needed a group of advisors he could turn to. He modeled his new cabinet on the councils of war he had led as commander of the Continental Army. In the early days, the cabinet served at the president’s pleasure. Washington tinkered with its structure throughout his administration, at times calling regular meetings, at other times preferring written advice and individual discussions.
In The Cabinet, I reveal the far-reaching consequences of Washington’s choice. The tensions in the cabinet between Hamilton and Jefferson heightened partisanship and contributed to the development of the first party system. And as Washington faced an increasingly recalcitrant Congress, he came to treat the cabinet as a private advisory body to summon as needed, greatly expanding the role of the president and the executive branch.
While the cabinet has evolved in step with the federal government, Washington established a precedent whose powerful legacy endures. Each president since has selected his closest advisors, Senate-appointed or otherwise—whether political allies, subject experts, or a coterie of family members and yes-men.
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“A clear, concise, and lively study of a topic that has long needed such coverage. Chervinsky skillfully shows the Revolutionary roots of the early cabinet and explores how it juggled precedent, public opinion, partisanship, and the balance of power. Anyone interested in American politics will want to read this informative and timely book.”
—Joanne B. Freeman, author of The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War
“This informative, accessible overview of the factors and events that contributed to Washington’s legacy of precedent-setting use of advisers and the assertion of strong executive authority while maintaining harmony with the other branches will be of interest to readers at all levels.”
—Margaret Kappanadze, Library Journal
“A riveting, beautifully written story of George Washington’s efforts to figure out how to achieve his goals in a fast-changing environment. By placing Washington’s cabinet meetings within the broader narratives of the Revolutionary War and the politics of the early republic, Chervinsky brings all the tensions of the big stories into Washington’s efforts to administer America’s new government. She makes reading about the evolution of institutions fun!”
—Johann N. Neem, author of Democracy’s Schools: The Rise of Public Education in America