TY  - BOOK
AU  - Gutzman,Kevin Raeder
TI  - James Madison and the making of America 
SN  - 9780312625009
AV  - E 342 .G989 2012
PY  - 2012///
CY  - New York
PB  - St. Martin's Press
KW  - Madison, James,
KW  - Presidents
KW  - United States
KW  - Biography
KW  - Statesmen
KW  - Politics and government
KW  - 1809-1817
KW  - 1789-1815
N1  - Includes bibliographical references and index; From subject to citizen, 1751-76 -- Winning the Revolution, 1776-87 -- The Philadelphia Convention, 1787 -- Ratifying the Constitution, part one: The Federalist, 1787-88 -- Ratifying the Constitution, part two: The Richmond Convention, 1788 -- Inaugurating the Constitution, 1788-1800 -- Secretary of State, then President, 1800-17 -- An active retirement, 1817-36
N2  - This is the first full-length biography, in over a decade, of James Madison, our fourth President and icon of the conservative movement. In it, the author, a historian looks beyond Madison's traditional moniker, "The Father of the Constitution", to find a more complex and realistic portrait of this influential Founding Father. Instead of an idealized portrait of Madison, the author treats readers to the story of a man who often performed his founding deeds in spite of himself: Madison's fame rests on his participation in the writing of The Federalist Papers and his role in drafting the Bill of Rights and Constitution. Yet, he thought that the Bill of Rights was unnecessary and insisted that it not be included in the unamended Constitution which, he lamented, was entirely inadequate and, likely, would soon fail. Madison helped to create the first American political party, the first party to call itself "Republican", but only after he had argued that political parties, in general, were harmful. Madison served as Secretary of State and, then, as President during the early years of the United States and the War of 1812; however, the American foreign policy he implemented in 1801-1817 ultimately resulted in the British burning down the Capitol and the White House. Virtually all of his great accomplishments, such as his contributions to The Federalist Papers, are now misunderstood. His greatest legacy, the disestablishment of Virginia's state church and adoption of the libertarian Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, is often omitted from discussion of his career
ER  -