James Madison

He wrote lots of stuff

Here's a quote from Eederalist #10, authored by James Madison: The protection of these faculties is the first object of government. From the protection of different and unequal faculties of acquiring property, the possession of different degrees and kinds of property immediately results; and from the influence of these on the sentiments and views of the respective proprietors, ensues a division of the society into different interests and parties. Madison foresaw the contention of democracy as simply majority rule versus the idea of a democratic society: a government that allows a majority of voters to plunder the few is simply lawless (Milton Friedman)

James Madison believed that a democratic form of government, would tame the factions and cause them to work together as much as possible. Madison, in the The Federalist, argued that the federal system helps prevent factions from gaining too much control and causing tyranny of the majority

James Madison had a long political career, beginning as a delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from Virginia from 1781 to 1783. He represented Virginia's 5th district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1789 to 1793, and Virginia's 15th district from 1793-1797. He was the 5th U.S. Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809. Finally he was the 4th President of the United States from 1809 to 1817.

James Madison was first and foremost a liberal in the classical or Lockean sense. For Madison, governments are founded on the consent of the governed, and, when they become oppressive, the people have a right to revolution. The primary role of government is to secure the public good and the natural rights of the governed. Madison is especially famous for his dedication to private property and religious liberty.

Madison was also a republican. He devoted his life to the cause of self-government.

Madison was a preeminent institution builder. He was the primary thinker behind the compound or federal republic. His ideas on democratic institutions include:

Representation

Self-government via representative rather than direct democracy secures the best characters - men of property, of learning, and of letters - as office holders in government.

The Extended Sphere

The conventional wisdom of the day was that self-government was only possible in a contracted territory with a small population. This was an idea that Madison sought to refute.

Madison believed the problem of factions (we call them interest groups today) was the fatal disease of popular governments. Factions are groups of citizens who have interests or passions averse to the rights of others or to the public good. He believed that factions are inevitable, and that the only way to prevent them from oppressing others was to prevent them from becoming a majority.

The only way to do this is to extend the sphere of democratic governance to incorporate so many factions that no single faction could ever amount to a majority. Only by extending democratic governance over a wide territory and diverse population will society be safe from any one faction outnumbering and oppressing the rest.

Checks and Balances

"Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place." - Federalist 51

For Madison, not all politicians are interested in justice or the public good. There are many ambitious politicians who would rather expand their power at the expense of the other branches and oppress the people. For Madison, ambition is a flaw of human nature that can't be changed, but can be accommodated, hence the institution of checks and balances.

Not only must each branch be separate from the others, but they must be given the means to weaken each other. If one branch tries to usurp the powers of another branch, the latter must have the means to check and balance the former. If politicians are basically ambitious, they will have the personal motive to exercise their constitutional authority to defend the legitimate powers of their offices.

Federalism

Madison believed that the national government should have the power to act directly on individuals while preserving the integrity of state sovereignty at the same time. Thus individuals place themselves under the laws of two distinct governments: state and national.

Madison showed how state governments could be preserved as independent sovereigns. According to Madison, under the Constitution, the authority of the federal government extends to specific, enumerated objects. Any power not granted to the federal government is left to the states, so that "the powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite" (federalist 45).

In Federalist 39, Madison shows how the government described by the Constitution is a mix of federal and national elements. The Constitution is federal as it regards the Union as a community of separate sovereign states, and national as it regards the Union as a community of individuals under one national government.

James Madison report was able to make the congress to issue a formal call to the states for a constitution convention.

Factions exist because not everyone agrees with how things should be run in government or an organization. This sometimes causes people to form a group like-minded people to pursue their own goals.

James Madison was 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed about 100 pounds. He was the smallest US president.

There are some ways to control political factions and to restrict their influence on the larger society. One is the principle of majority rule. Another is the creation of large republics that can "refine and enlarge" the views of the public, which gives more people a voice regardless of faction.

He was a Democratic-republican. Jefferson and Madison created the Democratic Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party.

James Madison created the 10 amendments, led the war of 1812, gained independence from Britain, was the father of the Bill of Rights, and the father of the constitution.

Hope this helped! (:

They were second cousins, descended from Richard Taylor, who was the only person to have had two great grandchildren who went on to become president of the United States. Madison was the 4th president from March 4, 1809 - March 4, 1817. Taylor was the 12th president from March 4, 1849 - July 9, 1850.

Formal. One with lots of parallel sentences and paragraphs. Just look at the Declaration of Independence and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

separation and distribution of power in the three branches of the fed gov't

Madison was a US Congressman and Secretary of State before he was president.

James Madison helped to write the Federalist Papers. He also helped to write the Bill of Rights after it was determined that the Constitution did not deal with individual rights of the people.

Yes. Her first marriage was to John Todd and she had 2 children: John Payne Todd and William Temple Todd. But John Todd and William died of yellow fever. So John Payne Todd was her only son to live

well, James Madison was a republican who wanted the government to be run by the middle class citizens of the U.S.

Madison is an English surname (family name) meaning "son of Maud" or "son of Matilda". It was not much used as a first name until after the 1984 movie "Splash" (and even then it was mainly used in the USA), so in that sense it has practically no history as a first name.

Using surnames as Christian names is a very modern idea.

James Madison is known as the Father of the Constitution for two reasons. He took extensive notes that allowed future generations to understand what went on at the Constitutional Convention, and, he was the author of most of the Bill of Rights. George Washington is known as the Father of the Country.

bookish Virginia Patriot,

The best prepared of these "godlike" figures was James Madison of Virginia. One delegate wrote of Madison, "In the management of every great question he evidently took the lead in the Convention." Indeed, Madison's influence was so great that later he would be called the "Father of the Constitution."

Madison addressed the convention more than 200 times. When he was not speaking, he took notes. Sitting near the front of the room so that he could hear everything that was said, Madison wrote down nearly every word. When collected together, his notes covered more than 600 printed pages. From this remarkable record, we know what went on inside the convention day by day. Cortosy of History Alive! the United States through Industrialism, not me, im not smart

he was thinking if the u.s should have a goverment

$2 without the case, $20 with a case

huge men

No, he was a member of the House of Representatives (5th and 15th districts of Virginia), but he was never the Speaker of the House.