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James Madison: A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation

Online ISBN:
9781469601878
Print ISBN:
9780807835302
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press
Book

James Madison: A Son of Virginia and a Founder of the Nation

Published online:
24 July 2014
Published in print:
16 March 2012
Online ISBN:
9781469601878
Print ISBN:
9780807835302
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press

Abstract

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. This biography 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 the author'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 the author 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.

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