James Madison (The American Presidents Series)

In halls of American history, few people are as overlooked as James Madison. While his presidency was largely forgettable, his influence on the country through his work on the constitution can not be forgotten. In this concise work by Gary Wills, Madison is portrayed as a slight and fragile man. Yet even in early adulthood, he showed the markings of a leader. Overcoming his quiet nature and small size, he played a key role in writing the Constitution. He championed the cause of separation of church and state. Madison felt that faith must be genuine and can not be forced. A forced faith is dangerous to the future of the religion, potentially causing it to loose its meaning. Madison's presidency was marred by the War of 1812. This often misunderstood chapter in American history is given an excellent explanation on page 97. Through the course of this war, Madison protected the Constitution as well as ending the reigns of political patronage than caused earlier battles in the war to be failures. Much like Thomas Jefferson paved the path to the presidency for Madison, Madison also left a legacy of rising stars in the party then known as Republican including James Monroe and Andrew Jackson. Were it not for Jackson's military success, the country stood to loose ground in the War of 1812. Instead, the country ended the war with the same amount of territory as when it began the war. While this biography is short, I must admit that I learned a great deal from it. I believe this book can hold its ground against any biography of Madison. While not caught up in frivolous details, it tells a great story.

The author, Garry Wills, writes, "Madison's very presidency is semi-forgotten.", and addresses the question "How could James Madison be so outstanding in certain aspects of his life and be overshadowed in others." The text states that an explanation "...could take one of three approaches based on circumstances, on temperament or on specific errors." However, none of these fully explain the dichotomy Madison presents. Wills notes that Madison had weak points which he carried over to the presidency: "...a certain provincialism with regard to the rest of the world and a certain naiveté with regard to the rest of his human beings." The book's first three chapters cover the "Pre-Presidential Years" noting "Madison is called the father of the Constitution. It is a title deeply deserved on many accounts." He had an intimate connection with all three administrations preceding his presidency being responsible for the framing and passage of the Bill of Rights.The balance of the book, ten chapters, covers his presidency. He became president under very difficult circumstances. Jefferson literally had given up governing the nation for four crucial months passing on a stalled executive to Madison who had no real executive experience before becoming president. Lacking leadership experience the author relates the many cabinet and personnel problems he experienced while his provincialism often allowed him to get suckered punched in foreign affairs. Contrary to common belief, the Congressional "War Hawks" of the West did not thrust the War of 1812 on him. Madison wanted the war.The author gives a succinct account of Madison and the conduct of the war from the aborted attempt to conquer Canada to the bright performance of the American Navy. In 1814 when the war was shifting in America's favor, Washington was burned in what the author calls "a perfect study of what was wrong with Madison' conduct of the war..." Political basis for military appointments (a practice continued into the Civil War) and reliance on state militia rather than army professionals contributed significantly to the Washington debacle.The text gives a brief account of the work of the American peace commission and the treaty ending the war, which the Senate approved on February 16, 1815. The author notes, "Not a single one of its announced war goals had been reached....", but notes that "During his last year in office, Madison rode the swell of popular nationalism...." During the war Madison was truer to the strictures of the Constitution than any subsequent war president "as if to prove that the Constitution did not have to be jettisoned in a crisis."Garry Wills answers the question of how could James Madison be so outstanding in certain aspects of his life and be overshadowed in others. He concludes this book writing "No man could do everything for the country-not even Washington. Madison did more than most, and did some things better than any. That is quite enough."The reader will find paralle

Although it is nominally a biography of James Madison, this brief book is actually an examination of Madison's presidency. Wills explores the seeming contradictions between the brilliant Madison responsible for the Constitution and Bill of Rights and the less-than-impressive president.Wills shows that there is less of a contradiction than there seems to be. The flaws that hurt Madison as a president were actually around much earlier, especially his inability to function well as an executive. Madison was much more a behind-the-scenes person, quite adept in committees or legislative situations, but not as able outside them.As a biography, this book is rather short and sparse, but by focusing on one portion of Madison's life - the portion which he does not receive great acclaim for - Wills is still able to provide a lot of detail as he analyzes and explains the fourth presidency.

I have been a fan of Wills writing since I was a kid and read his little booklet, Elias and Eliseus, in the Catholic Know Your Bible Series, written around 1960. Wills' biography of James Madison manages to pack a great deal of information into 160 pages and does so in a coherent and very readable manner. One can at times get bogged down in the details but Wills provides an excellent conclusion, and useful summaries of various factors, groups, etc. throughout the book. He also blows away several myths such as future presiden William Henry Harrison's "great victory" at Tippecanoe which was pyhrric at best and even the notion that we won the War of 1812 is questionable--the truth was much more ambiguous. Nevertheless,, Madison's War was a watershed event that unified Republican factions and moved the American Republic past old, Federalist party alignments and some of the original Federalist and Jeffersonian Republican concerns. Five of the war's military leaders became U.S. presidents. The miniscule navy, funded during the Federalist phase of Washington and Adams, beat the mighty British in several important battles because of the superiority of American naval engineering and the boldnesss and military genius of its young naval commanders who are contrasted with the much older army and militia leaders who were notable, especially in the early phase of the war for their corruption, incompetence and timidity. One U.S.commander wasted valuable time worrying whether he could use an old rag to surrender or if he should try to obtain a cleaner, whiter one. Bolder and more effective army officers such as Andrew Jackson later emerged. In the end, England grew weary of its war with us; we learned lessons about the need for a strong coordinated executive branch; Madison made many mistakes, as did several of his abysmal cabinet appointments, and yet he steered us through the war and managed to prove the workability of the Constitution that he had authored. Wills also gives us an appreciation of the fragility of the Union and the very real possibility of the secession of New England which did not suppport the war. Unlike the war in Vietnam, America came out of the War of 1812, itching for new military adventures. Wills gives us othe fascinating details such as Madison's desire to annex Cuba and Canada, his obsession with the wrongheaded tactic of embargo, his naivete that caused him to be duped by Napoleon, his deliberat attempts to falsify his memoirs, his great contributions to the Washington and Jefferson presidencies, his major contribution to the concept of separation of church and state which current Christian fundamentalists would do well to familiarize themselves with. Other little known facts emerge in Wills' account of the times such as England's 18th century war atrocity against Denmark, wiping out Copenhagen. Excellent book, highly recommended.

While this book focuses mainly on the mediocre presidency of James Madison, the author nevertheless is able to convey the crucial role he played in the formation of the government. After reading Wills' account the reader comes away with a clear understanding that, aside from Washington, Madison was the most indispensible figure in the drafting and passing of the Constitution, the creation of our government. In fact, if it were not for Madison's foresight and persuasion, Washington may never have participated in the Constitutional Convention, leaving it doomed to failure. That Wills is able to convey all of this, and still concisely explain Madison's difficulties as Chief Executive, is a marvelous achievement considering the brevity of the book.The dominant event of Madison's presidency is, of course, The War of 1812. The war defines Madison's administration. Wills writes of how Madison led or bungled the country into a war that it was ill-prepared for. He describes Madison's ineptness as Commander-in Chief. He analyzes how Madison, the staunch states-righter (ironic in itself) centralized power in the federal government in order to fight the War. And finally, we see, surprisingly, how Madison comes out of the morass he created more popular than ever. Wills provides persuasive reasons why this was the case.Very informative and highly readable. Madison's life and the times in which he lived are anything but dull. Wills will leave you wanting to learn more about this most underrated of the founders.