Thesis Statement For Presidential Greatness

Biography/Thesis Statement: Presidential Greatness was written by Marc Landy and Sidney M. Milkis. Marc Landy is a political science professor at Boston College and Sidney M. Milkis is a government professor and a senior scholar at the Miller Center of Public Affairs. Their book presidential greatness discusses what makes a president great and looks at five of the most well know presidents of the United States to determine what made them great and memorable. Out of the five president's listed in the book I have chosen these three to focus on; George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson. In this book review I am going to discuss and critique how each of the three president's I listed defended the Constitution and were able to bring about great change in America. Summary: George Washington had a lot of pressure on his shoulders because he was the first president and the way he helped govern the United States set the foundation …show more content…
Lincoln is probably most well known for the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln is remembered for his very important role as the leader who protected the Union throughout the Civil War and founding the Emancipation Proclamation which led to the end of slavery. He was also remembered for his character and guidance. He was known to be a man of humble origins whose willpower and determination led him to the nation's highest office, the President. The book quotes one of Lincoln's speeches were he said 1"A House divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved-- I do not expect the House to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other."(135) and he stuck to this and eventually Abraham Lincoln was able to push through Congress the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which permanently banned