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| Proposed Amendments to the Constitution |
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| Introducing the Bill of Rights |
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Madison used this outline to guide him in delivering
his speech introducing the Bill of Rights at the
First Federal Congress (June 8, 1789).
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| Objections to the Constitution |
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| This letter to Jefferson is written partly in
a private code that he and Madison shared. The "translation"
of the code (i.e. the letters inscribed above the
numbers) is in Jefferson's hand. In the letter Madison
discusses the jockeying in New England for the vice-presidency
in the new national government and describes some
of the reasons for opposition to the Constitution.
Many of the opponents, Madison tells Jefferson,
were self-interested advocates of measures to obstruct
creditors: others, however, opposed the constitution
for "honorable and patriotic motives,"
believing that it suffered from the absence of a
bill of rights. Madison reported that he "never
thought the omission a material defect nor [had]
been anxious to supply it even by subsequent amendment." |
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| The Virginia Plan |
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| Here is George Washington's copy of the Virginia
Plan, the blueprint for a new government introduced
into the Philadelphia Convention (May 29, 1787)
by Governor Edmund Randolph of Virginia. The Virginia
Plan contained Madison's ideas for the new government,
which he had proposed to both Washington and Randolph
in the weeks preceding the Convention. It was refined
by the Virginia delegation in Philadelphia before
being introduced. |
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| On the Eve of the Convention |
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| In this letter written on the eve of the Philadelphia
Convention, Madison describes to Washington the
measures that should be taken to rescue the nation
from the difficulties confronting it. Many of his
suggestions -- a strong national executive, federal
judicial supremacy, and representation by population
-- were written into the constitution; however,
a significant one -- a federal veto on state laws
-- was rejected. |
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| The Case for Religious Freedom |
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| Written in the summer of 1785 in opposition to
Patrick Henry's bill proposing general religious
taxes, Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance"
has grown in stature over time and is now regarded
as one of the most significant American statements
on the relationship of government to religion. Madison
grounded his objections to Henry's bill on the civil
libertarian argument that it violated the citizen's
"unalienable" natural right to freedom
of religion and on the practical ground that government's
embrace of religion inevitably harmed it. |
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| An Attempt to Establish a Library of
Congress |
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| On January 23, 1783, a committee chaired by Madison
submitted a list of approximately 1300 books to
the Confederation Congress. Described as "proper
for the use of Congress," the books were compiled
by Madison who was assisted by Thomas Jefferson.
Madison urged that "it was indispensable that
congress should have at all times at command"
authorities on public law whose expertise "would
render . . . their proceedings conformable to propriety;
and it was observed that the want of this information
was manifest in several important acts of Congress."
Madison's proposal was defeated because of "the
inconveniency of advancing even a few hundred pounds
at this crisis." |
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