James Madison

September 15, 2021
An admiring biography of America's fourth president. James Madison (1751-1836) is known as the "Father of the Constitution." Madison agreed--but only in retirement. The son of an influential planter and already a widely admired Virginia leader, he arrived in Philadelphia in 1787 with plans for a fundamental redesign of American government. Cost delivers a vivid account of Madison's energetic efforts, followed by his role in the first Congress. Under his shrewd political leadership, that body produced tax laws and the Bill of Rights, among other significant accomplishments. "If Madison had suddenly dropped dead on September 29, 1789," writes Cost, "he would still be remembered as one of the greatest Founding Fathers." He did not, of course, and opposed Alexander Hamilton's plans for a national bank, a national assumption of state debts, and policies to encourage industry (topics the author covered in his 2018 book, The Price of Greatness). Other historians claim that Madison reversed himself to become a Jeffersonian advocate of minimal government. However, Cost maintains that Madison remained consistent in affirming that government must ensure that its benefits were distributed equally. He opposed Hamilton's proposals because they favored a privileged class. Jeffersonian ideals triumphed with the 1800 election, and Madison, serving as Jefferson's secretary of state, enjoyed smooth sailing. By the time Madison became president in 1809, Hamilton was gone, but his realistic view of America's place in the world trumped Jefferson's virtuous, agrarian republic, which had no hope of dealing with powerful Britain. Unprepared for war in 1812, the U.S. bumbled through, but according to Cost, Madison showed his usual political acumen. Financing the war proved almost impossible, so he authorized a national bank. He supported internal improvements and the first protective tariff, co-opting Hamilton's best economic ideas to lay the groundwork for America's explosive growth. One of many Madison biographies, Cost's book deserves high marks as a skillful study of an iconic historical figure.

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October 11, 2021
Cost (The Price of Greatness), a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, takes an in-depth look at James Madison’s political theories. Cost sheds light on Madison’s education at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) under Presbyterian minister John Witherspoon; writings such as the 1785 essay “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,” which called for the “complete disestablishment of the Church of Virginia and unconditional toleration of all sects”; and his push for a “massive increase in federal power” at the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Elected to Congress in 1789, Madison advocated for the Bill of Rights, helped create the Republican Party (later known as the Democrat-Republican Party), and opposed Alexander Hamilton’s plan for the Bank of the United States. Detailing Madison’s handling of the War of 1812 as president and his rebuttal of claims that states had the power to annul federal laws during the 1832 Nullification Crisis, Cost contends that Madison viewed republican politics as the answer to the essential problems of government. Though he treads familiar ground and occasionally overstuffs the account, Cost effectively reconciles Madison’s well-documented contradictions under the banner of his commitment to “fair play” and “the search for common ground among factions.” The result is a solid intellectual biography of one of America’s most consequential founders.

November 1, 2021
James Madison continues to be honored as Father of the Constitution, even though he himself modestly declared that many others deserved significant credit for crafting the United States' organizing document. Like others who led the thirteen colonies into revolt and independence, Madison was a Virginia plantation owner. What distinguished him from similar others was his rigorous education at Princeton and his mastery of rhetoric, as evidenced in his contributions to The Federalist Papers, which laid out the rationale for establishment of a new republic. Cost (The Price of Greatness, 2018) emphasizes Madison's role as politician, founder of the Democratic-Republican party, and a man of profound principle who shepherded the Bill of Rights to ratification, but who understood the necessity for change and compromise, such as his reversal on the issue of a national bank. Nor did he object to the Louisiana Purchase, an expansion of the nation not really provided for in a strict reading of the Constitution. Madison may have been the shortest President (at 5'4") but his intellect and his accomplishments make him a real giant among the United States' founding fathers.

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