I made quick work of this little biography but learned lots about James Madison, appropriately called The Father of the Constitution. Indeed, according to Wills, the 3 indispensable Founding Fathers were Washington, Franklin, & Madison, without whom we might not have had the Constitution as the country as we know it. Madison not only was the driving force behind the Constitution (along with the presence of Washington during the deliberations), he was also a driving force behind the ratification of the document both in Virginia and in the writing of the famous Federalist Papers which were very influential in the state of New York.
Madison's talents were greatest as a legislator. He was less successful as an executive although Wills gives him passing marks as President. Historians generally consider Madison an adequate chief executive but not a great President.
I had forgotten that during the War of 1812, which ended ambiguously, Madison and the US invaded Canada. Madison thought, in error, that Canada was there for the taking with Great Britain preoccupied with Napoleon. Anyone who thinks the United States is not historically an imperial country need only consider this part of our history.
Madison started out as a nationalist and ended up a Jeffersonian Republican. How his thinking drifted over the years I don't quite understand. Madison was inconsistent in this thinking, but so what: all great people are inconsistent.
At the Constitutional Convention, Madison fought for federal veto over all state laws. How the country would have been different had this idea been enacted!
This country evolved as it has. We should always remember that history is not determined. The structure and evolution of the U.S. could have been different in many ways. What if we HAD conquered Canada?
1 comment:
Madison is surely an accomplished person. Too bad he is too overlooked in history. I cannot imagine having conquered Canada.
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