James Madison: The Great Pragmatist
From the day he joined the Continental Congress in 1780 through his second term as the 4th President of the United States, James Madison was in the middle of everything. Lots of patriots contributed to the country’s success, but few, if any, did as much as James Madison.
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Script:
From the time he joined the Continental Congress in 1780 through his second term as the 4th President of the United States, James Madison was in the middle of … whatever.
He comprehended it better than any single individual– because nobody contributed more to its development when it came to the Constitution.
He made the most convincing arguments when it came to selling that file to the American individuals.
When ten changes– the Bill of Rights– were required to seal the deal, he wrote those, too.
Diminutive in stature– he was just over five feet high– he was a giant in every other respect: as a writer, theorist, and, most significantly, political pragmatist. He was a deep thinker who got things done. And no one ever worked more difficult to get those things done.
James Madison was born in 1751 to a thriving family in the Virginia Piedmont. Like his coach, neighbor, and best friend Thomas Jefferson, he was well informed in the classics and spoke numerous languages. His home state sent him as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1780, at the age of 29. There, he saw first-hand how bad a nationwide government might be: slow, corrupt, self-centered.
He fixed to do something about it.
He wasn’t alone. George Washington and others pushed for a brand-new social compact, a file that would genuinely bind the divergent interests of the different States– no easy accomplishment. Their efforts paid off in May 1787 when a brand-new Constitutional Convention was convened in Philadelphia.
Although he was among the more youthful delegates, Madison took a lead role, not due to the fact that he was so ambitious, but because he was so knowledgeable. He attended every session, gave more speeches than anybody, took precise notes, and drafted the strategy that the delegates used as the structure for the new Constitution.
Writing the file was hard enough; selling it to the American people would show even harder. A group known as the Anti-Federalists started flooding the papers with anti-Constitution essays, cautioning that the strategy would ruin liberty instead of save it.
Madison and New York lawyer Alexander Hamilton concerned the Constitution’s defense in a series of essays referred to as the Federalist Papers. The two males were a vibrant duo. Hamilton did the lion’s share of the writing, however Madison’s submissions perhaps had one of the most effect. He carefully discussed the system of checks and balances that would specify the new government.
The Federalists won– simply barely– and the Constitution was validated.
Madison wasn’t yet 40 … And still a bachelor.
That changed when he fulfilled Dolley Payne, a vibrant young widow seventeen years his junior. She changed the solitary, workaholic Madison into one of the terrific dinner celebration hosts of the age. This showed important to his political career.
After serving as Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state and supervising the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from the French, doubling the size of the United States, Madison was the obvious choice to become the fourth President.
But there was difficulty on the horizon. Great Britain, which had never totally reconciled itself to its defeat in the Revolutionary War, continued to harass the new nation at every turn. It seized American products at sea and even forced American sailors to work for the Royal Navy.
By June 1812, Madison had had enough. He asked Congress to state war against Great Britain for continued abuses of American rights. Began the War of 1812.
It was a disaster– one of the rare times Madison failed to analyze an important policy choice. The United States simply wasn’t gotten ready for war, certainly not one against the mightiest power in the world.
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From the day he signed up with the Continental Congress in 1780 through his 2nd term as the fourth President of the United States, James Madison was in the middle of whatever. Many patriots contributed to the nation’s success, however few, if any, did as much as James Madison. James Madison was born in 1751 to a thriving household in the Virginia Piedmont. Madison and New York lawyer Alexander Hamilton came to the Constitution’s defense in a series of essays understood as the Federalist Papers. She transformed the solitary, workaholic Madison into one of the terrific supper celebration hosts of the age.
