James Madison: A Son of Virginia & a Founder of the Nation

by Jeff Broadwater, Johnny Heller (Read By)

James Madison is remembered primarily as a systematic political theorist, but this bookish and unassuming man was also a practical politician who strove for balance in an age of revolution. In this biography, Jeff Broadwater focuses on Madison's role in the battle for religious freedom in Virginia, his contributions to the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, his place in the evolution of the party system, his relationship with Dolley Madison, his performance as a wartime commander in chief, and his views on slavery. From Broadwater's perspective, no single figure can tell us more about the origins of the American republic than our fourth president.
In these pages, Madison emerges as a remarkably resilient politician, an unlikely wartime leader who survived repeated setbacks in the War of 1812 with his popularity intact. Yet Broadwater shows that despite his keen intelligence, the more Madison thought about one issue, race, the more muddled his thinking became, and his conviction that white prejudices were intractable prevented him from fully grappling with the dilemma of American slavery.

Genres: History, Biography, Presidents, Nonfiction, American History, Audiobook, Biography Memoir

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Jeff Broadwater is a professor of history in the School of Humanities at Barton College. Dr. Broadwater has also taught at Vanderbilt University, Arkansas Tech University, Texas Woman’s University, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. From 1990 to 1992, he was Director of the John C. Stennis Oral History Project at Mississippi State University.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not a full biography of Madison, more a picture and examination of a few critical moments in his storied career as a leader, legislator, and President. Still, it is a very good book, and for me has given me a wish to learn more.

The early Presidents, the Fab 5, as it were, with the exception of John Adams, are heavily scarred by slavery. It sticks to them like glue, and for some in today’s world makes them irredeemable. I think that one has to, to some extent, examine the times. Madison, owned slaves, but clearly in his public And private statements was against slavery. He was concerned about their welfare after any emancipation, but in working toward a plan to relocate slaves back to Africa he clearly was operating under a combination of factors, a belief that whites and blacks could not share a society, clear prejudice about blacks ability to function as individuals, and his perpetual worry about preserving the union.

One could and probably there have been whole books on this subject alone.

For me, however, Madison still remains supreme. Maybe it’s because he was a short little, unprepossessing, little bookworm. And yet, thru diligence and intellect he became one of the great minds of our country’s beginnings.

I have many highlights of this book , I actually used a highlighter, something I rarely do but what I think is the overarching theme of Madison’s public life is his concern for the rights of the minority versus the excesses of the majority.

As most Virginians leaned more to states rights platforms, and Madison himself was a Democrat-Republican and not a Federalist he did come to believe a strong federal government was necessary. This was primarily due to the compromises that were necessary to get the constitution passed, compromises that, to Madison’s concern made the state governments were made too powerful.

His consistent worry in the meetings that formed the constitution and much later as the President was for civil rights, minority rights, and the majority dominating the government in a might makes right theme. He had consistent worries also about a standing army fearing that what is good for protection from foreign entities can be dangerous and lead to tyranny in country.

During the war of 1812 Madison refused to pass laws limiting the freedom of the press or even punish the almost and actual outright sedition of some of the New England federalist. Today his belief in freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and civil rights, beliefs he refused to compromise even in crisis make him standout among our earlier Presidents.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dull, dry, boring, I really wanted to like this book. After 60 or so pages I felt I knew more about policy than I did the man. Anyone out there have a better recommendation?

[Joanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

What can I say, but that there was a great deal more politics than I was looking for in this book. I was more interested in his personal life and the human interest side. I may have even skimmed some of the chapters on his work in Congress. But as the book pointed out, James Madison didn’t really have a life outside of politics, so there it is. I did really respect his work and politics. Loved his wife! That’s a biography I need to read.

[Paul Conroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful book on the times and tribulations of James Madison, arguably the most important of the Founding Fathers, as his writing helped frame all parts of the US system of governance.
The book mostly deals with the political, diplomatic and military issues of his day, and how his keen insights into human nature and brilliant mind resolved them.
Madison’s personal life is scantly covered, with the exception of his extroverted and sociable wife Dolly Madison, who gave the sometimes austere and bookish James a more personable exterior.

[Andy Johns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty average biography of a pretty average president. I like that rapper version of Madison better.

War of 1812 stuff was interesting. He definitely turned his logic inside out over and over on slavery including the whole 3/5ths of a person thing. Toward the end it was interesting in his unofficial role as the last living founding father.

In conclusion, he was kind of like LBJ. A master legislative politician who was not a masterful president and really screwed up a war.

[Jay Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not an in depth look at our fourth president. He basically uses the previous biographies and does an overview in slightly more than two hundred pages. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good overview, but since it was not original research, I rated it accordingly. Well footnoted so if I chose to read a more in depth and original biography, I can chose one from his sources.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

This looks like a biography, but it's really more of political analysis of Madison's contributions to the founding of the country. As such, it's concise and clearly written. Of the many founding concepts that have made our country such a success, the majority of them came out of Madison's head. The book does a good job of explaining where and how he got them.

[David Shaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat underwhelmed by James Broadwater’s biography on our 3rd President James Madison. Just over 300 pages it lightly goes over Madison’s life with the most detailed and interesting aspects being his contributions to and thoughts on the constitution and the developments the led up to The War of 1812.

In general the Madison Presidency and the war of 1812 were not thoroughly covered. The book is a lifelong biography but is certainly not a definitive biography on James Madison..

I would not disparage this book but if one is looking for a great biography on James Madison this is not it.

Ultimately Broadwater see Madison as a figure who tried to balance his pet beliefs for a more centralized government while not making it overpowering. He apparently believed the legislative branch would be the most important of the 3 branches of government but did believe in significant checks and balances.

My take on James Madison is he was a good man whose most significant contributions were to the formation of the constitution and the early Republic but not a great President.

[Jess Garoutte · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just feel like this was poorly written. Through the books about the previous 3 presidents, I feel like I got a pretty good understanding on James Madison;which is a good thing, considering this book hardly kept my attention long enough for me to learn anything more about him. At start of the book, the author decided to jumble up the events, into such a tangled up timeline, it was like having to untangle a necklace while reading it. This book took me a week to get though, and I do not put that long timeline solely on it, I had some personal things intertwined with its reading, but the dry presenting of content should be held accountable as well. It gets two stars, because I made it though, but only because I am eager to move on. Several times I thought about abandoning this book, in favor for another one on our fourth president.

[Hank Pharis · Rating 2 out of 5]

(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).

One of three biographies I listened to last July on James Madison in preparation for visiting his home. They were all good but none of them stood out as the best. I hope to do a real review of this someday.

[Dianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

After I got out of school and started reading books of history, I found out that it’s not a boring list of facts…it’s the stories of real people and their lived experiences. This book goes in the category of history being a lot of boring facts. No depth of character is portrayed of James or Dolley Madison. They lived amazing lives—she evacuated the White House as the British approached and burned it. He was the last commander in chief to go into battle. He wrote most of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. There is so much rich material, but this book fell flat.

[Michael Jolls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Independence Day (…eh, week…) tradition of one book about America’s founding. Unfortunately, this wasn’t ideal for my first biography about James Madison; unique in that it breaks apart Madison’s life into subjects, but it’s SO detailed that it’s a tad laborious to get through. To prove that bias: the material devoted to the War of 1812 was fantastic (a subject I know decently) – but no way could I retain it all in one sitting. That said, regardless of the subject/person, it never fails to look back at our history and see how much we can compare to (and help make sense of) for today.

[Erica Neuman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given that so many of Madison's papers were published, I felt this book lacking in giving me any true feelings for who he was as a man. I leave this book with a better understanding of his life and political beliefs but unable to think of a single defining adjective to describe who he was as a person. This feels disappointing ESPECIALLY given what a prolific first lady Dolly was!

[Mellissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 ⭐️’s. This was a so/so exploration of the 4th president. I struggled to find a quality biography that wasn’t over a 30-hour listen. The longer biographies didn’t have great reviews either, so I settled on this one. It was informative, but felt like there wasn’t much of substance. I discovered Madison was not a good judge of character and took too long to make decisions. I would love read a good bio on Dolly.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not think this book did Madison any justice. The book was rather dry, dull, and boring for it to have been about a man who had such a big influence in American policy. It read as if it were just a lot of events and policies put together in a book.

[Tim Duff · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book but a lot of details which expanded it to over 800 pages. Conclusion - James Madison was a President who was not appreciated until many years later after he left office. Very informative, but a bit too detailed.

[Josh Zlatkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read about one of the Nation's founding fathers

[Joeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting but dry.

[Chet · Rating 1 out of 5]

The audio book is swiftly read with a pace and dryness equivalent to a dry watermelon. The book is a good example for undergraduate students on how to write an academic paper.

[Maggie Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this on audio book.

[Sarah Humphreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean…yeah, it was long, and boring. Like BORING. For most of the time. But, there were some parts I really enjoyed and I liked it👍.

[Kyle Roode · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring. More about the other people in his life than about him.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Madison is, at one point in the book, described as having no personality, that is how I feel this book comes across, very generic. I have listened to books about other presidents and felt I came to know the presidents politically and personally, as well as his friends and family. Madison's personality is described here but the description feels one-dimensional.

I listened to the audiobook, perhaps this one is better read instead of listened to. I don't know if it was the writing or the narrator or my limited background knowledge of history but I was just happy to be done with it. I thought the reader read quite fast and sometimes in a monotone; I. therefore, found myself frequently tuning out and having to re-listen to sections. Unlike many other audiobooks, I won't be returning to this one.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best part of this book was a contemporary's characterization of Madison as 'a schoolmaster in morning for a pupil he has beaten to death.' There's also a great but about Jefferson writing from France asking Madison for the measurements of moles & weasels from Virginia do he could prove American rodents were not inferior to the rodents of Europe.

Unfortunately this short bio is mostly about putting Madison's political philosophy in the context of historical events, not about weird stuff from letters, and it's mostly fine at that, but not exactly scintillating. The mostuseful takeaway as that political arguments in America about the founders' intentions go back to the very beginning and even a founder as central as Madison wasn't always certain what he had founded.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was hoping for in a biography of Madison. Someone much more focused on the mechanics of the Constitutional process and the inside baseball of the early US government may have a better appreciation for it, but my interests were learning more about the life and time Madison lived within. The book doesn't do much on giving a sense of who Madison was beyond his work or on placing Madison within the broader context of his era.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting enough account of Madison's times, but it really didn't bring Madison the man into focus.

[Collette Mcdonough]

A fantastic book for an introduction to James Madison.

[Ginette Seare · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it last year and don't remember my fresh impression, but he is a fascinating man, and it helped me gain such a new perspective on someone who played a critical role in the United States.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring. I wanted to learn about Madison so I slogged through it but I frequently found myself backing up to cover a section over because I had zoned out.