James Madison

June 14, 2019|Antonin Scalia, George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, Joseph Ellis, Robert Bork, Second Amendment, Thomas Jefferson

Joseph Ellis’s American Monologue

by Brian A. Smith|28 Comments

Junius Brutus Stearns, "Washington as Statesman at the Constitutional Convention," 1856 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts).

In Joseph Ellis’ view, it’s just fine for us to love the Founders, but not for anyone to understand them in ways that might derail the march of progress.

May 27, 2019|Alexander Hamilton, Anthony Peacock, Charles Beard, James Madison, John Jay, Martin Diamond, Publius, The Federalist, Thucydides

Refreshing and Disturbing: Anthony Peacock on Thucydides and The Federalist

by Karl Walling|2 Comments

Peacock’s rediscovery of the lost Federalist is a much needed corrective to contemporary scholarship.

May 20, 2019|Dwight Eisenhower, James Madison, Land of Hope, Progressivism, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Wilfred McClay

McClay’s Master Work: A History for Citizens

by Ted McAllister|1 Comment

Finally, a narrative account of the United States for students that comprehends the flaws, but also the greatness, of a self-governing nation.

April 26, 2019|Article V, Howard Gillman, James Madison, Originalism, Progressivism

Originalism Protects the Timelessness of the Constitution

by John O. McGinnis|1 Comment

Photo by andrey_l (shutterstock.com)

Originalism was the way Constitutional law was done until the progressive era came up with the idea of the living constitution.

April 15, 2019|Christianity, James Madison, John Calvin, Liberty in the Things of God, Martin Luther, Reformation, Religious Freedom, Robert Louis Wilken, Rome, Tertullian, Thomas More

Fear God. Honor the Emperor. A Conversation with Robert Louis Wilken

by Robert Louis Wilken|1 Comment

St. Peter's Square in the Vatican City.

Robert Louis Wilken discusses his new book Liberty in the Things of God.

March 29, 2019|Congress, executive branch, Federalist 51, James Madison, Veto

How to Rebalance Power Between Congress and the Executive Branch

by James R. Rogers|8 Comments

U.S. Capitol (Tono Balaguer/Shutterstock.com)

Congress faces an inherent collective action problem relative to the President, one that means legislators underinvest in the institution itself.

February 19, 2019|Alexander Hamilton, corruption, James Madison, National Bank, oligarchy

A Corrupt Republic? Hamilton, Madison, and the Rise of Oligarchy

by Tony Williams|1 Comment

Federal Hall on Wall Street, New York, New York (Image: oneinchpunch/shutterstock.com).

Jay Cost asks his readers to reconsider the ways that corruption all too easily flows from the federal government, in every era.

February 5, 2019|Bank of the United States, Edmund Randolph, Emer de Vattel, Federalist No. 10, James Madison, Legal Interpretive Rules, Originalism

James Madison: A Great Political Theorist, But Not A Great Lawyer

by John O. McGinnis|3 Comments

Federalist 9 and 10 (Everett Historical/Shutterstock.com).

For all his contributions to the convention, Madison was not put on the Committee on Detail that provided the penultimate draft of our fundamental law.

January 28, 2019|James Madison, Jefferson and the Virginians, Patrick Henry, Peter S. Onuf, Thomas Jefferson

Peter Onuf’s Jefferson

by Kevin Gutzman|Leave a Comment

A great historian shows us how much there is still to learn about the nation’s third President.

December 7, 2018|Bicameralism, Centinel, Federalist 51, James Madison, Self-Government, Virtue

Centinel’s Argument Against Bicameralism

by James R. Rogers|4 Comments

An undated Anti-Federalist Broadside, "Alarm! Alarm! Alarm! A scheme has been discovered," Library of Congress Printed Ephemera Collection; Portfolio 134, Folder 32.

It would be ironic if American politicians were insufficiently ambitious to sustain a system predicated on “ambition counteracting ambition."