Scholars are wont to paint antipodally Jefferson and Madison, and for good reasons. Most depictions show, in effect, that by psychological disposition, Madison was better suited to be a Hamiltonian Federalist than a Jeffersonian Republican. I offer a few illustrations. Merrill D. Peterson, in his Thomas Jefferson and the New Nation, states that Madison had […]
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The (Un)Written Constitution
“The use of words is to express ideas . . . But no language is so copious as to supply words and phrases for every complex idea, or so correct as not to include many equivocally denoting different ideas.” – James Madison, Federalist 37 Conservative originalists like the late Justice Antonin Scalia relish pointing to […]
A Symposium on the Life and Thought of James Madison
James Madison’s lasting influence and prescience are undeniable. His most widely recognized historical contributions include his roles as chief architect of the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention, “stenographer in chief” of its proceedings, major contributor to the Federalist Papers, and 4th President of the United States. But Madison also set the bounds of debates on [...]
James Madison’s Federalist Essays as Aristotelian Political Education
In the words of Marvin Meyers, “all roads lead to Federalist 10,” the essay in which Madison famously argues that the extended republic of the United States will control the effects of factions: By taking in a diversity of interests, opinions, and passions, it is less likely any one of them will be able to […]
Was Madison a Strict Constructionist?
As members of the First Congress convened in early April 1789 to begin the process of implementing the Constitution, James Madison knew better than anyone the challenges that lay before them as they attempted to put into effect an innovative system of government based on a text that had different meanings to different people: “We […]
