A virtual book talk by historian Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky from October 8, 2020. Recording available.
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 such a body. Washington had to rely on his own leadership experiences.
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. Lindsay M. Chervinsky reveals 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.
The president’s cabinet is a highly visible and powerful part of the executive branch, yet the last book on the origins of this institution was published in 1912. The Cabinet is the first book to explain the extralegal creation of the president’s advisory body in response to the threats facing Washington and the first administration. Chervinsky also demonstrates the importance of Washington’s military experience to the formation of the presidency and the federal government—a parallel that has often been overlooked. As a result, it makes an original contribution to the field that is long overdue.
The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution has received critical and popular acclaim. Harvard University Press awarded The Cabinet the Thomas J. Wilson prize for best first book, in honor of its contributions to the field and accessible prose. The Cabinet has also been lauded by other leading historians in the field, including Joanne Freeman, Ron Chernow, and Jon Meacham. Chernow described The Cabinet as, “Cogent, lucid, and concise, Lindsay Chervinsky’s book gives us an indispensable guide to the creation of the cabinet. With her groundbreaking study, we can now have a much greater appreciation of this essential American institution, one of the major legacies of George Washington’s enlightened statecraft.” Meacham agreed: “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.” Finally, in a review for The New Criterion, Clayton Trutor wrote, “Chervinsky exemplifies the public-history ethos in her new book.”
About the Author:
Dr. Lindsay M. Chervinsky is an expert in the cabinet, presidential history, and U.S. government institutions. Currently, she is serving as Scholar in Residence at the Institute for Thomas Paine Studies at Iona College and Senior Fellow at the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies. Previously, she was a historian at the White House Historical Association and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. She received her B.A. in history and political science from the George Washington University, and completed her masters and Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. She is the author of the award-winning The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, which was published by Harvard University Press on April 7, 2020. When she’s not writing, researching, or speaking about history, she loves to hike with her husband and her dog, John Quincy Dog Adams.