James Madison by Garry Wills
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Here we get a tale of a bookish man driven by ideas. He learned through books, he legislated through principles — but as a leader he proved to be mostly inept, unable to deal with a reality that didn’t match his preconceived notions.
I do admire Madison for being the “father of the constitution”. He saw much foresight in writing the constitution and helping with the bill of rights when he did. The United States wouldn’t be as it is without him. Unfortunately though, that vision he had only worked on paper. Willis doesn’t concentrate too much on his character. Much of the book is about the war of 1812, the failed annexation of Canada. Willis is down on that war because it was hobbled together ineptly by the administration but he praises it for its contribution in unifying the country when it needed to get over its provincialism. In a way, Madison, as a product of that provincialism (he never went to Europe) was the right kind of man to be elected President. Strange that this war would help the United States gain a sense of nationalism, even though it only happened that way. That war also set the stage as to who would become the next leaders up towards the Civil War, as well as giving the United States some more badly needed diplomatic experience.
It’s only natural though that the military and diplomatic positions would become handouts to loyal followers. That is the tie that bound the country together when its new population lacked experience to fill those positions. Nonetheless, while we owe him for the Constitution, as President he was merely a man for those times.
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