The Political Philosophy of James Madison. By Garrett Ward Sheldon. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001. 143p. $32.00.

Extract

Interpreting the entire body of work of a political theorist as prolific as James Madison is a dicey matter. Perhaps more than any other American of his intellectual stature, James Madison can be viewed as shifting ideological positions throughout his long and active life. Reputable scholars such as Marvin Meyers (1973), in his Introduction to The Mind of the Founder, Ralph Ketcham (1971), in James Madison: A Biography, and Douglas Jaenicke's (“Madison vs Madison: The Party Essays v. The Federalist Papers”), in Maidment and Zvesper's (1989) Reflections on the Constitution, have argued with some effectiveness that it is difficult to garner a consistent set of philosophical positions throughout Madison's life. Other scholars, however, such as Lance Banning (1995), in The Sacred Fire of Liberty, Drew McCoy (1980), in The Elusive Republic, and Richard Matthews (1995), in If Men Were Angels, make a case for a more consistent Madison who, although altering positions on specifics, remained remarkably dedicated to a set of core philosophical positions.