Becoming Madison

January 15, 2015
An attorney and author looks at the early life and career of our fourth president.Though he's the principal architect of our constitutional form of government, James Madison (1751-1836) remains, for most Americans, the least distinct of all the Founders, better known as Hamilton's and Jay's co-author, as Jefferson's lieutenant, as the beguiling Dolley's husband. In this highly readable and often insightful treatment, Signer (Demagogue: The Fight to Save America from Its Worst Enemies, 2009, etc.) colors in the portrait, finding the essential Madison in the young man as he charts the diminutive Virginian's "evolving character and his emerging ideas." A remarkably intense, indefatigably hardworking youth, Madison mastered self-control in part to mask his raw sensitivity and frail health. Signer convincingly diagnoses his infirmity-contra Madison biographer Lynne Cheney-as "severe anxiety-driven panic attacks that made him ill." Despite this weakness, he consciously set out to become a statesman, regularly asserting himself in the public, rough-and-tumble world of politics, using, oftentimes anonymously, the power of his ideas and the elegance of his pen to shape the debate. With a character influenced by his father, his tutor, and especially his college president, the Presbyterian cleric John Witherspoon, Madison drew ideas from his voluminous reading and all-encompassing scholarship. Finding the Socratic method distasteful and inadequate, he fashioned his own search for truth and developed it into a singular political strategy. Signer describes Madison's method as an "interlocking set of nine tactics" that primarily emphasized ideas, preparation, timing, and, most of all, the quelling of passion in oneself and one's opponent. The author offers some dramatic set pieces demonstrating Madison's method in action-the 1784 fight against religious assessments in Virginia, the Constitutional Convention, the Virginia ratification battle, etc.-illustrating its effectiveness against more conventional tactics and politicians. He's particularly good at showing how Madison's discipline, relentless logic and faith in reason allowed him to triumph over his in-state antagonist, Patrick Henry. A perfect introduction to a deeply private and immensely important man.

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February 15, 2015

Several aspects distinguish this work from others on James Madison (1751-1836). Political theorist Signer (Demagogue) covers his subject's first 37 years, focusing on the evolution and unification of the political and personal principles that formed Madison into a political authority, persuasive writer, expert debater, and, above all, a preeminent leader and extraordinary statesman. The author argues that with a systematic "method" of employing intellect, rationality, preparation, and controlled passion, Madison successfully defended liberty and promoted the Constitution. In tracing his underlying vision, Signer emphasizes the profound influence of Madison's mentor, John Witherspoon; Madison's assiduous study of government; and the application of his knowledge and earnestness during the Constitutional Convention, in the "Federalist Papers," and in exchanges with Patrick Henry and other anti-Federalists during Virginia's ratification debates. The author contends that Madison's struggle with humiliating and incapacitating anxiety attacks influenced his character and philosophy. VERDICT This is less of a biography than an important study of the intellectual and psychological development of a young Madison who believed that leaders should forsake self-interest in promoting the common good. Signer urges contemporary politicians to emulate him. For readers interested in Constitutional history and in understanding the political philosophy of the Father of the Constitution and Fourth president of the United States.--Margaret Kappanadze, Elmira Coll. Lib., NY

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