James Madison
A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
James Madison is remembered primarily as a systematic political theorist, but this bookish and unassuming man was also a practical politician who strove for balance in an age of revolution. In this biography, Jeff Broadwater focuses on Madison's role in the battle for religious freedom in Virginia, his contributions to the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, his place in the evolution of the party system, his relationship with Dolley Madison, his performance as a wartime commander in chief, and his views on slavery. From Broadwater's perspective, no single figure can tell us more about the origins of the American republic than our fourth president.
In these pages, Madison emerges as a remarkably resilient politician, an unlikely wartime leader who survived repeated setbacks in the War of 1812 with his popularity intact. Yet Broadwater shows that despite his keen intelligence, the more Madison thought about one issue, race, the more muddled his thinking became, and his conviction that white prejudices were intractable prevented him from fully grappling with the dilemma of American slavery.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Barton College history professor Broadwater's (George Mason, Forgotten Founder) biography of James Madison, the fourth president of the U.S. and widely considered "The Father of the Constitution," is meticulously researched and surprisingly readable. Given the myriad biographies of the Founding Fathers and in an attempt to correct the notion that, in Joseph Ellis's words, Madison "seemed to lack a personal agenda because he seemed to lack a personality," Broadwater specifically provides readers with a detailed account of Madison's attempts to secure religious freedom in his native Virginia, his relationship with his charismatic wife Dolley Madison (sometimes referred to as "Lady Presidentess"), and his ongoing struggle with his ideas about slavery. In addition, the author discusses Madison's enormous impact on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the party system, which Madison considered in Broadwater's words "at best a necessary evil," hoping instead that an "elaborate system of checks and balances would mitigate their unwholesome tendencies." Though Madison retired after his two terms as president to become a gentleman farmer, matters of politics and the intellect never left him he wrestled with the issue of slavery till the end of his days. Though the enormous amount of detail will likely put off casual readers, history buffs and early-America aficionados will find Broadwater's work indispensable. Illus.
