James Madison: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
William T. Hutchinson et al. (eds.), The Papers of James Madison, 17 vol. (1962–91), is the most extensive collection of Madison’s writings, annotated and with background notes. Gaillard Hunt (ed.), The Writings of James Madison, 9 vol. (1900–10), comprises Madison’s public papers and private correspondence, and Hunt also edited The Journal of the Debates in the Convention Which Framed the Constitution of the United States, May–September 1787, As Recorded by James Madison, 2 vol. (1908), which is the only continuous and an almost exhaustive record of that convention. James Morton Smith (ed.), The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1776–1826, 3 vol. (1995), includes more than 1,200 letters detailing their friendship. A valuable briefer presentation of this subject is Adrienne Koch, Jefferson and Madison: The Great Collaboration (1950, reprinted 1987).
Madison’s life is most competently and exhaustively treated by Irving Brant, James Madison, 6 vol. (1941–61), which sets out to counter the hitherto prevailing misrepresentation of the Madison and Jefferson administrations and particularly the derogation of Madison relative to Jefferson; Brant’s The Fourth President (1970) selectively condenses the multivolume work into a single volume. Ralph Ketcham, James Madison (1971, reprinted 1990), is also good. Drew R. McCoy, The Last of the Fathers: James Madison and the Republican Legacy (1989), tells about the man after his presidential career.
The following works discuss and evaluate Madison’s political career and administrations: the first section of John Quincy Adams, The Lives of James Madison and James Monroe, Fourth and Fifth Presidents of the United States (1850); William C. Rives, History of the Life and Times of James Madison, 3 vol. (1859–68, reprinted 1970), concentrating on the period from the American Revolution until 1797; Sydney Howard Gay, James Madison (1884, reissued 1983), covering up to 1797; William Lee Miller, The Business of May Next: James Madison and the Founding (1992), detailing the period from 1784 to 1791; and Robert Allen Rutland, The Presidency of James Madison (1990), focusing on the War of 1812.
Madison’s political philosophy is analyzed in Stuart G. Brown, The First Republicans: Political Philosophy and Public Policy in the Party of Jefferson and Madison (1954, reprinted 1976), a work concerned with Madison, Monroe, and Jefferson and the development of the essential partisan ideas that bound together the republican faction; Irving Brant, James Madison and American Nationalism (1968), an account of Madison’s role in the formation and development of U.S. institutions against the background of the popular attitude, with corroboratory documentary readings; Lance Banning, The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic (1995), explaining Madison’s views on national government; and Richard K. Matthews, If Men Were Angels: James Madison and the Heartless Empire of Reason (1995), contending that Madison followed liberal political beliefs.
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Irving Brant
-
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Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: Library of Congress - An Introduction to the Life and Papers of James Madison (PDF). | Oct 24, 2026 | ||
| Anniversary information added. | Jun 24, 2026 | ||
| Anniversary information added. | Mar 12, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: Heritage History - James Madison. | Feb 13, 2026 | ||
| Add new Web site: James Madison Institute - The Life and Legacy of James Madison. | Oct 27, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: The White House - James Madison. | Aug 29, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: PBS - American Experience - James Madison. | Apr 14, 2025 | ||
| Questions and answers added. | Feb 13, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: World History Encyclopedia - James Madison. | Feb 12, 2025 | ||
| Add new Web site: Official Site of James Madison Foundation. | Dec 19, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: U.S. Army Center of Military History - James Madison. | Oct 29, 2024 | ||
| Added interactive timeline of the Madison presidency. | Jul 29, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: American Battlefield Trust - James Madison. | May 27, 2024 | ||
| First paragraph modernization. | Mar 25, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: George Washington's Mount Vernon - Biography of James Madison. | Aug 08, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Montpelier - The Life of James Madison. | Jun 30, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Canadian Encyclopedia - Biography of James Madison. | May 17, 2023 | ||
| Added cross-reference. | Feb 28, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Thomas Jefferson's Monticello - James Madison. | Jan 05, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Encyclopedia Virginia - James Madison (1751�1836). | Nov 29, 2022 | ||
| Add new Web site: Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University - James Madison. | Aug 29, 2022 | ||
| Add new Web site: Ohio History Central - Biography of James Madison. | Mar 29, 2022 | ||
| Removed cross-reference and tables. | Apr 17, 2020 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Aug 09, 2019 | ||
| Added an overview video of his presidency. | Oct 12, 2018 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Sep 26, 2017 | ||
| Add new Web site: Mr.Nussbaum - Biography of James Madison. | Dec 16, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: American History Central - Biography of James Madison. | Dec 16, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress - Biography of James Madison, Jr. | Apr 04, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: USA 4 Kids - Biography of James Madison. | Apr 04, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: HistoryNet - James Madison: The Father of the Constitution. | Apr 04, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress - Biography of James Madison, Jr. | Apr 04, 2014 | ||
| Added photograph. | May 29, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: Maps of World - Biography of James Madison the 4th President of US. | Feb 15, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: United States History - Biography of James Madison. | Feb 15, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: Public Broadcasting Service - American Experience - Biography of James Madison. | Feb 15, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: Miller Center - Biography of James Madison. | Feb 15, 2013 | ||
| Added "James Madison, Jr.," as a title variant. | Nov 01, 2011 | ||
| Added timeline. | Apr 15, 2011 | ||
| Added image of James Madison. | Jan 26, 2011 | ||
| Add new Web site: Buzzle.com - Facts About James Madison. | Aug 20, 2010 | ||
| Added new Web site: Enchanted Learning - Biography of James Madison. | Apr 13, 2009 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Jun 04, 2008 | ||
| Added new Web site: Spectrum Biographies - Biography of James Madison. | Feb 20, 2008 | ||
| Added new Web site: American History From Revolution To Reconstruction and Beyond - Biography of James Madison. | Oct 04, 2007 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | May 10, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Official Site of James Madison's Montpelier Mansion. | Jan 26, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: The James Madison Museum, Orange County, Virginia. | Jan 26, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: The James Madison Museum, Orange County, Virginia. | Jan 26, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: Official Site of James Madison's Montpelier Mansion. | Jan 26, 2007 | ||
| Added new Web site: The White House - Biography of James Madison. | Nov 03, 2006 | ||
| Added new Web site: Official Site of James Madison's Montpelier Mansion. | Sep 07, 2006 | ||
| Added new Web site: AmericanPresident.org - James Madison - A Life in Brief. | Jun 21, 2006 | ||
| Article revised. | Apr 29, 2004 | ||
| Article revised. | Dec 11, 2002 | ||
| Article revised. | Jan 24, 2000 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Jul 28, 1999 |