PREVIEW: James Madison: American Intellect by Wendell Garrett (Half-Leather)

ja m e s m ad i s o n ame r i c an i nt e ll e ct A Sele^ion of Documents

JAMES MADIS ON AMERICAN INTELLECT

A Sele^ion of Documents wend e ll g a rr ett

thornwillow pres s 20 09

ďŹ rst edition copyright Š 20 09 wendell garrett

The texts of the letters and documents printed here are all taken from the papers of james madison William T. Hutchinson, William M.E. Rachal, Robert A. Rutland, J.C.A. Stagg, editorts et al., (Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1962-1977 and Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1977-to date) Congressional Series, 1751-1801, 17 volumes complete Secretary of State Series, 1801-1809, 8 volumes (through Jan. 1805) Presidential Series, 1809-1817, 6 volumes (through Oct. 1813) Retirement Series, 1817-1836, 1 volume (through Jan. 1820) Jack N. Rakove, ed., james madison writings (New York: The Library of America, 1999) wendell garrett New York City

c ocnt o nt e nts e nts Madison: Madison: American American Intelle^ Intelle^ Memorial Memorial andand Remonstrance, Remonstrance, 1785 1785 TheThe Virginia Virginia Plan, Plan, 1787 1787 TheThe Federalist Federalist Papers Papers Nos.Nos. 10,10, 14,14, 1787 1787 Letter: Letter: James James Madison Madison to Thomas to Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson, 1788 1788 Speech Speech in the in the House House of Representatives of Representatives Proposing Proposing Constitutional Constitutional Amendments, Amendments, 1789 1789 First First Inaugural Inaugural Address, Address, 1809 1809 Speech Speech in the in the Virginia Virginia Constitutional Constitutional Convention, Convention, 1829∆∆ 1829∆∆ Advice Advice to My to My Country, Country, 1834 1834

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13 13 95 95 106106 112112 135135 148148 173173 179179 188188

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MADIS ON: AMERI CAN I NTELLE CT

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he life and accomplishments of james madison—more than the lives of his illustrious compatriots—are inseparable from the history of the revolutionary nation he helped create.

From his early days in the state legislature of colonial Virginia to his two terms as president, Madison worked tirelessly alongside—and sometimes in opposition to—his political contemporaries to secure the future of the fledgling United States. There is virtually no accounting for him or of him apart from the great events of his time. Any chapter in the early life of the Republic is more important to his story than any chapter of merely personal history. And at the end, until his death in 1836, he stood as the lonely last sentinel of the Founding Fathers.

Madison was a man of chara^er, an American who was committed to the ancient classical idea of “public virtue”; he placed his country ahead of his own personal requirements. He had a zeal for the revolution and for ordered liberty; he had a fondness for words and ideas and books. To Madison the life of the mind was pre-eminent. His extraordinary intelle^ found its greatest opportunity for expression at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. His a^ivities at the convention, his explanation and defense of the proposed covenant as one of the three authors of The Federalist, and his notes of the debates earned him the title “Father of the Constitution.” And still greater service lay ahead as secretary of state and fourth president during the divisive War of 1812. This towering theorist, incisive writer, and dedicated public servant labored through his frustrations and his dreams, his vi^ories and his defeats to make the lamp of freedom shine in the United States as a beacon for all mankind.

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Madison was a leading a^or in Philadelphia among the dramatis personae assembled in Philadelphia in 1787 to give this nation its higher purposes of liberty and self-government. Almost fi…y years later, in 1834 when he was eighty-three and in retirement, a correspondent called Madison “the writer of the Constitution.” This is “a credit to which I have no claim,” the sole surviving framer protested and disclaimed the “credit,” insisting that the Constitution “ought to be regarded as the work of many heads & many hands.” Perhaps the least over proud of all the famous founders, Madison was also aware of the nation’s veneration for the federal charter rested partly on the memory that it had not sprung, full blown, from any single brain and had not become the law at all until it was adopted by the citizens in a solemn a^ of national debate and decision. Contemporaries, nonetheless, were corre^ when they accorded Madison a special place among the Founding Fathers. Even a…er full allowance has been made for all of the achievements of his colleagues, Madison’s centrality at every step in the creation of the federal republic marks him as pre-eminent among the men who shaped, explained, and won an overwhelming mandate for the nation’s fundamental law.

While Madison was not a great orator in the manner of Patrick Henry, nor did he have the charismatic presence of George Washington, he earned the respe^ and admiration of his peers by being the bestprepared speaker on any public issue. As a contemporary noted, Madison “blends together the profound politician with the scholar. In the management of every great question he evidently took the lead in the convention... From a spirit of industry and application which he possesses in a most eminent degree, he always comes forward the best

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informed man of any point of debate.” This was not happenstance.

Madison spent many lonely hours at his desk pouring over ponderous volumes of history, researching the past to illuminate the present. The legacy of that labor are his thoughtful, well-researched speeches, letters, and essays on public issues as he tried to persuade the opposition, not with emotional flights of oratory, but with the luminous light of reason and a realistic understanding of the nature of man. Madison wrote with precision, clarity, and subtlety, and we read him today because he still matters.

Long obscured by the fame and felicitous pen of his brilliant friend, Thomas Jefferson, Madison has emerged in our own time as an intelle^ual giant in his own right as a result of the edi^s of an a^ivist Supreme Court and the bitter debate over the meaning of “original intent.” This is as it should be: James Madison refle^ed and wrote about American political life and government for more than sixty years and in the process struggled with questions of human nature and politics that transcend time. Can a representative government govern effe^ively and still preserve the people’s rights? What role should religion play in public life? What are the proper limits of executive and legislative power? What role should the state play in achieving and maintaining an educated populace? What are the proper boundaries between federal and state governments? Should the freedom of the press be absolute? What should be the role of the United States in world affairs? On these topics and more, Madison had many thoughtful and provocative things to say. What is apparent is his tough-minded, unsentimental view of his fellow man and of politics as the art of the possible. While man is capable of virtuous a^ion in Madison’s

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