James Madison: A Biography

Ralph Ketcham writes a lengthy, detailed and insightful biography of our fourth President, James Madison. I have looked at some of the Amazon user comments about more recent biographies of President Madison, but opted for the classic by Dr. Ketcham. Sure, sometimes he speculates about what Madison thought and did, but believable based on the circumstantial evidence of friends, colleagues, and neighbors.Page 19 describes how important one of Madison's early tutors was in shaping his intellectual abilities that served him well for his whole adult life.Page 38 provides us with an interesting analysis of the effect of the "spirit of liberty" at the College of New Jersey at Princeton on Madison and other "revolutionaries" who graduated from there between 1769 and 1776: "when Madison went to the middle colonies and to the Presbyterian stronghold at Princeton [instead of Harvard], he placed himself at the center of the English dissenting tradition in North America...which since Cromwell's day had opposed religious establishment, ecclesiastical hierarchy, courtly influence, and every other manifestation of privileged and therefore easily and inevitably corruptible power".Chapter 3 (Madison at Princeton) shows us through convincing circumstantial evidence of how and why Madison later in life became known, among the founders of the Nation, as the well-educated scholar and best-informed member of legislative bodies and the conventions he attended.The final paragraphs of Chapter 5 outlines Madison's view of the causes of the severe deflation of the US paper currency and its importance during the Revolutionary War.Chapter 6 vividly describes the weaknesses, ineptitude and quarrelsomeness of the Continental Congresses and how this helped shape Madison's moves to spearhead the drive for more effective federal power in the Constitution of 1787.Chapter 7 summarizes nicely why the Articles of Confederation did not work well, especially during wartime. Problems of national unity, financial weakness, and foreign policy are described insightfully. Page 92+ shows the maneuvering associated with Benjamin Franklin and other emissaries to France and Madison's role in it. It shows how Madison rose to be an influential figure in the Continental Congress during 1780. Page 101+ shows the reasoning and rationale behind Madison's support for seeking closer ties with and aid from France as a way to prevent domestic weakness and disunion and "build national strength so that the United States might fulfill a wider destiny in the world". Page 102-103 discuss Madison's maturing as a Congressman with committee work, reasoned argument, and balancing the interests of his native Virginia and the national interests so important in winning the Revolutionary War. Chapter 7 also tells a fascinating story of the relationship between the fledgling U.S. and France.Chapter 8, p. 162-167, effectively explains Madison's views on religion and his lifetime devotion to religious liberty and its promotion in Virginia. The author also illustrates through Madison's work in the Virginia legislature why the Articles of Confederation needed to be replaced by a well-designed US Constitution. Page 177 presents an excellent discussion of the almost disastrous effect of the Jay-Gardoqui (Spain) project on the Constitution.Other gems of Madison's appear on p. 186: "to Madison Shays' Rebellion demonstrated fully the dangers of a weak republic. Insufficient authority would produce a cycle of commotion, harsh measures, and demagoguery fatal to good government." And p. 201: "Madison ... blends together the profound politician with the scholar." Chapter 10 gives us a fascinating day by day look at the Constitutional Convention and its debates and compromises. In this chapter I finally found out how the idea of the Electoral College to elect the President evolved.Madison, Hamilton and Marshall are emerging in my mind as the triumvirate that made the new experimental government really work as a large republican democracy.Chapter 11 provides us with a good summary of the Federalist essays that defended the Constitution during the lengthy state ratification process.Chapter 13 delves into the rift between Hamilton and Madison/Jefferson over increasing federal power.Chapter 14 has a good review of the Jay Treaty.Chapter 18 gives us good insights into the complicated US-Great Britain relationship leading up to the War of 1812. (Particularly interesting since I was reading it on the exact dates of the 200th anniversary of the start of this war.) It shows how the US was drawn kicking and screaming into the Napoleon French and GB wars of 1800-1815, and a good look at the ill-fated Embargo Act of 1807 which was repealed in 1809.This biography has answered my questions about what expertise Madison brought to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. This knowledge made him "as well informed on the workings of confederate government as any man in America". Page 183+ "Chief among the regular faults of the ancient and modern confederacies were the jealousies and animosities among the members and the lack of sufficient central authority...inevitable misfortunes were domestic turmoil and international humiliation."Interesting Note: Like George and Martha Washington, James and Dolley Madison never had children. But he certainly had a houseful of nieces and nephews, etc.

in depth reporting.

As other reviews indicate, the book is long and at times tedious, but the accounts of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the War of 1812 are riveting. The discussion of the convention, with Madison as note-taker, details the many twists and turns taken in arriving at the final result. The Federalist Papers, so essential to adoption of the Constitution, are admirably summarized. The account of his presidency is uncomfortable to read, but the author puts it in the context of the political tumult of the time. The euphoria of the Revolution is over and our new country must find a safe path in a world at war, one precipitated by our ally, France, against our continuing nemesis, England, and pulling in Spain who still holds much of our territory including Florida and the mouth of the Mississippi River.The author honestly traces Madison's evolving philosophies of democratic and republican government through this time, putting them in frank context. Internally, economic interests begin to divide our nation into competing sections, exacerbated by increasingly stringent and divergent views on the best course for our democracy. Madison is trapped in a whirlwind, seeming prey to inescapable political realities, often blocked by the actions or inaction of the Congress. Late in his life, as the nation slides toward the Civil War, to his horror, his own words are used to attempt to justify secession. He comes from his cherished retirement to attempt to refute this.Madison seems simply to be more reserved and cerebral than the other "Founding Fathers," making for less interesting reading. However, what does come to life are his relationships, particularly with Washington and Jefferson. The written communications with them and with his wife Dolly are touching and deeply felt, our best view into the emotional life of this very private man. What comes from those who met him is an appreciation for his profound and careful mind. What we are left with is awe at his accomplishments, which led his peers to acknowledge him as the "Father of the Constitution."

Reading this book is a bit of an undertaking. It took me several weeks to slog throught the first 2-300 pages. The book is absolutely comprehensive (at least relative to other single-volume biographies), maybe overly so in parts. For example, I thought the author went into way more detail than I needed on the contents of the Princeton University library while Madison was a student there. The first third of the book was pretty dry in my view, and I was already thinking about what other bio of Madison I could find. Once the discussion turned to the Revolutionary War period and especially the Constitutional Convention, however, the book really took off for me and thereafter was an absolute joy to read. I could not have enjoyed the last half to two-thirds of the book any more than I did. It was fascinating and went a great way toward renovating my impressions of Madison which were damaged somewhat after reading bios of Washington (Flexner) and Adams (McCullough), which were not all that complimentary. I have to believe that this is THE definitive one-volume bio of Madison. I just wish it was still available in HB from someone other than the Easton Press. On to James Monroe (Ammon)!