Neither of the Top Candidates for the White House This Year Is Living Up to Constitutional Norms 

The transfer of power to Jefferson from Adams in 1801 was grudging but peaceful — a defining moment not just in American history but in world history.

Via Wikimedia Commons
Jean Leon Gerome Ferris: 'Washington's Inaugration at Philadelphia,' detail. Via Wikimedia Commons

How are America’s leaders measuring up against the standards set by the Constitution and the examples of the Founding Fathers? It’s a question I’ve been asking as I seek refuge from contemporary politics in reading and occasionally writing, in my 2023 book “Mental Maps of the Founders,” about the early years of the republic.

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