The Presidents #4: James Madison

[Ardent15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison

Discuss him and his Presidency.

[smalll]

1. He was short!

Also, what drives half the parents of girls these days to name them after him? Well, I guess it's slightly better than half the parents of boys who name them Jayden, Hayden, Kayden, Zayden or Qayden.

[FrenchieCat]

2. He was a Francophile!

Him and Dolly! :)

[Dr Morbius]

3. Interesting guy.

James Madison was the guy who made the argument that democracy can work. In his day, it was thought that any democracy would inevitably result in a tyranny of the majority, or mob rule. Madison, in one of the Federalist papers (number 10), argued that in a democracy of sufficient size and geographical disparity, conflicting self-interest would ensure no tyranny of the majority would long continue, if indeed it did occur. Madison has been proven correct in this by history.

Like many of America's other Presidents, Madison served his nation better before he took the White House. He was very influential in his eight years in the House (1st-4th Congresses), he was Secretary of State for eight years, and despite his modesty he truly was the father of the Constitution, the most brilliant work of its kind ever devised. But as President, he was a mixed bag. Prior to his time in the White House, he strongly opposed a national bank. But in 1815, he asked Congress for a stronger bank. The war of 1812 probably would not have occurred had not Madison stirred up support for it, and I can't look fondly on folks who stir for war. He did finish up the second Barbary war, and that was essentially the end of paying tribute to sail in the Mediterranean sea. During his second term, the last vestiges of the Federalist party dissolved, and America had only one political party. It was the era of good feeling.

In any other nation, a giant like Madison would be given appropriate props. I do not believe there is a memorial to him in DC, or even a special statue, although if not for Madison it is certain America would not be the nation it is today. He's not on our money, like his contemporary Hamilton. When folks list the founding fathers, they usually cite Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson, but if you consider the Constitution the actual founding of America as we know it, James Madison was THE founding father.

[Vattel]

4. Madison was an intellectual giant.

He was influential because of his brains, not his style. He was so soft-spoken that in debates in the House he was often asked to repeat himself. He formulated the Bill of Rights and played the largest role of any Founder in writing the Constitution. Alas, he was a slave-owner like Washington and Jefferson and so, in spite of his brains, he was blind to the humanity of a sizable portion of the human race. And he did encourage Congress to get us into our first of many stupid American war efforts (the war of 1812).
Notice, however, that he did not see himself as having the authority to put the United States at war with Great Britain. Although John Yoo stupidly claims that Madison believed that the President does have that authority to put the nation in a state of war, the real James Madison wrote:

“In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department.”

Madison also wrote: “‘The president shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the militia when called into the actual service of the United States.’ There can be no relation worth examining between this power and the general power of making treaties. And instead of being analogous to the power of declaring war, it affords a striking illustration of the incompatibility of the two powers in the same hands. Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper or safe judges, whether a war ought to be commenced, continued, or concluded.”

And in a message to Congress urging war against Great Britain (June 14, 1812), President Madison wrote: “Whether the United States shall continue passive under these progressive usurpations and these accumulating wrongs, or, opposing force to force in defense of their national rights, shall commit a just cause into the hands of the Almighty Disposer of Events, avoiding all connections which might entangle it in the contest or views of other powers, and preserving a constant readiness to concur in an honorable reestablishment of peace and friendship, is a solemn question which the Constitution wisely confides to the legislative department of the Government.”

Sorry, Yoo's stupidity is a pet peeve of mine. No folks, he's not a brilliant scholar gone bad. If he's not an idiot, he's a fraud.

[vaberella]

5. I didn't get to discuss 1-3. ^_^ n/t

[harun]

6. His view of enumerated and limited powers of Congress is the seed

that gives us the crap tree of the GOP today.

A worthy effort for his time but not practical, feasible or realistic for a country of > 300 million people.

[Ohio Metal]

7. Dolly

Makes some mighty fine cupcakes!

[Capt. America]

8. The workhorse of the Constitution.