A FOUNDING FATHER WHO GETS LITTLE RECOGNITION
Written: Jul 08 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Detailed study of James Madison's contributions to U.S. history
Cons: Repetitive
The Bottom Line: This is a good source for understanding the contributions of James Madison to this nation.
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| mike.holmes's Full Review: Richard Labunski - James Madison and the Struggle ... |
It's safe to say that most Americans have heard of James Madison. Most people know he was the fourth President of the United States. But, beyond that, Madison is rarely placed in the "important" founding father category with the likes of Washington, Adams, Franklin or Jefferson.
Author and Professor Richard Labunski makes a strong case for adding Madison to that list of "greats." In a book that the New York Times describes as "Solid and well-researched", Labunski goes into great detail concerning the considerable contributions of James Madison to one of the two most important documents of United States history-The Constitution (the other being the Declaration of Independence). Without Madison, there is a good chance that the Constitution, if it existed at all, would be in a very different form. Even more importantly, without Madison, the Bill of Rights may never have been written, or, those rights would have been totally different.
I sometimes wonder if I ever really learned anything in my history classes in high school and college. Reading this book was quite informative about the struggles that led to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Labunski notes that Madison, as a Federalist, was up against formidable opposition by the Anti-Federalists who included James Monroe, Samuel Adams, George Mason, and Patrick Henry.
Madison did have allies including George Washington (who was actually very quiet about the entire process), Alexander Hamilton and, to some extent, Thomas Jefferson but the Anti-Federalists fought Madison during every step of creating our founding documents.
It is ironic that Madison had to be pushed into nearly every important post that he had. He didn't want to be involved in the Constitutional Convention (largely due to his bad health) but he ended up writing substantial parts of the document. The Anti-Federalists fought Madison and the Constitution that he wrote because they felt it gave to many powers to the central government. In a rather odd twist, the Anti's were also against the ratification of the Constitution because it did not contain a Bill of Rights.
The "odd twist" is, of course, that James Madison, originally opposed to a Bill of Rights, ended up being largely responsible for the writing of the Rights and seeing that they were included.
The author goes into great detail about the methods used by the Anti-Federalists to stop Madison's vision. They fought him tooth and nail at the Constitutional Convention and then the Virginia Convention considering the Constitution. They kept him from being selected as a Senator for Virginia and almost kept him from being elected to the House.
The author does an excellent job of describing the process by which the Constitution was finally ratified. He tells very little about Madison outside of his efforts in forming our government. But, this is not a typical "biography", but more a detailed examination of what Madison did.
My only criticism of the book is that the author tends to repeat himself about some of the major "players" in our early history. Part of that is due to his exhaustive research from a variety of sources.
All in all, the book does present a valid case that James Madison deserves greater recognition by all Americans who might not enjoy the rights they have had it not been for this courageous man from Virginia.
FOUR STARS
Recommended:
Yes
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Member: Mike Holmes
Location: Odessa, Texas
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TO HONOR TED KENNEDY, CONGRESS SHOULD PASS A MEANINGFUL HEALTH CARE BILL
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