Madison’s Legacy
This is not the first book about James Madison — not even the first by author Joe Wolverton — but it is clearly the best. After reading this biography, any lover of America should thank God that He allowed us to have this great man who shaped our history like no other.
George Washington has been dubbed America’s indispensable man, and he surely deserves such acclaim, but Wolverton makes a good case that Madison likewise deserves that title. The author takes us from the early life of Madison to his death, with this overarching theme always present. In addition, Wolverton devotes more than 100 pages to statements Madison made that illustrate his wisdom, especially regarding maintaining limited government and constitutional republicanism.
Madison is often called “the Father of the Constitution.” While he personally rejected that title for himself, Wolverton asserts it is one “he unquestionably earned.” It was Madison who arrived in Philadelphia for what became the Constitutional Convention with a plan for a new U.S. government. He had spent months studying the records of past republics, and “he knew,” Wolverton explains, “that any government formed for this country would need to implement the best ideas of the sage political thinkers and philosophers of the past while carefully avoiding the pitfalls that marred the path so many other republics had followed to their eventual demise.”
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