James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic

Purchased James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic expecting a “Like New” copy, but when I examined the book I discovered it had a great deal of writing in it. This isn’t “like new.” I have generally been satisfied with my orders, but this one is a disappointment.

Rakove gives the reader a concise & readable account of the life of this central figure of the American founding. A breeze to read, but doesn't shortchange the reader in terms of insight & rigor. The capstone chapter "The Legacy of the Founder" is alone worth the price of the whole volume. For those interested in the creation of the Constitution, I would suggest reading this book after one of the shorter histories of the Constitutional Convention (I prefer Berkin's "A Brilliant Solution", but there are several very good ones out there), then turning to Rakove's magnificent "Original Meanings".

This short little book chronicles two things, though in sketches only: the life of James Madison and the story of his ideas. With this book Rakove does and excellent job of capturing both. Rakove follows Madison through his service to the Virginia House, where he wrote a landmark bill separating church from state in his home state. After that we follow Madison to the Continental Congress and then the U.S. congress, where he takes the lead in drafting what would become the United States Constitution. Rakove then gives a tour of Madison's role in the early years of the Federal government, in the House and then as secretary of state and then president. While these were certainly tumultuous years, especially during the War of 1812, where there was legitimate concern about the survival of the Union, Madison was able to weather it all while holding close to his political principles. These principles included an attachment to individual and minority rights and the preservation of the Federal Union above all. This little book gives and excellent depiction of those principles in action. I highly recommend it.

James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic 2nd Ed. written by Jack N. Rakove is more than a biography about James Madison our fourth President of the United States. Reading this book you get a real feeling for Madison and his philosophy.As Madison firmly believed, his record as a statesman should be a record of public deeds, not gossipy tale of ambitions, achievements, disappointments and revelations. Madison took care in to preserve his political papers as well as to ensure that the details of his private life would remain forever hidden from posterity. Thus, it was only in the conduct of public affairs that his deepest talents and interests found expression. Madison was a political thinker of his generation... in the task of creating the extended national republic of the United States, he had many partners but very few equals. Madison played a key roll in every significant development in national politics: efforts to ratify and amend the Articles of Confederation, the adoption and ratification of the Federal Constitution, the framing of he first amendments, the organization of the first opposition party, the initial controversies over constitutional interpretation, and the long diplomatic and military struggle that ended with the War of 1812.Madison's distinctive contributions to the American constitutional tradition were first and foremost a reflection of his remarkable capacity to reason abstractly about funamental problems of political life on the basis of lessions drawn from experience. We see the author taking Madison and showing us how ideas that began with books were shaped and elaborated and reconsidered through the experience of revolutionary, republican, and constitutional politics.James Madison does not resonate nearly as deeply in our historical memory. Yet his lasting achievements are arguably no less important. As Madison deepest legacy for the American constitutional tradition, he helped to create the understanding of these two distinct problems of majority power and minority rights.This is an excellent book and it really gets into the conscience of Madison and it gives the reader some analysis of the potent legacy for the statesman named James Madison.

A must-read for any student of United States History. Rakove's writing seems as effortless as it is informative. I thought I knew James Madison after reading this book.