James Madison, Not Just the “Father of the Constitution”

As Federalist Society members, we revere James Madison as the “Father of the Constitution,” because of his key roles in the 1787 Constitutional Convention and the campaign to secure the Constitution’s ratification, including co-authorship of The Federalist papers, and in getting Congress to propose to the states the Bill of Rights. However, what I did not know until recently, when I read Richard Brookhiser’s biography of Madison, entitled simply James Madison (2011), is that Madison was also what Brookhiser calls “the Father of Politics” in the United States. As the book’s jacket points out, Madison “founded the first American first political party,” “pioneered partisan journalism,” “belonged to the first political machine, the Virginia Dynasty,” and “married the first political wife,” Dolley Madison. It is this aspect of Madison’s career on which Brookhiser concentrates, including Madison’s political and personal relationships with other Founding Fathers such as Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, and John Adams. Not only was the book worth reading because it emphasizes an interesting side of Madison different from that which I expected to find described, but the book is extremely well written, indeed one that at times I found difficult to put down because—not unlike a good historical novel—it made me want to know what Madison did next. I recommend the book highly. And, if you don’t find my recommendation convincing, perhaps you’ll be convinced by the fact that the jacket contains recommendations by such diverse personalities as Akhil Reed Amar and Karl Rove!