James Madison and the Making of America By Kevin Gutsman

AMAZING BOOK!  What can I say?  This book was written for me.  This is my favorite subject and period.  James Madison was an amazing person and his accomplishments still astonish me even by today's standards and the perceived advancement in technology.  This book is NOT a biography of Madison although Mr. Gutzman does give you a give picture of Mr. Madison's background.  The book is focused on the subtitle "and the making of America".

Madison believed that a particular religion should not be preferred over another.  Coming from a state were Baptists were persecuted while the Episcopal was preferred, he opposed the idea of a "state Church". 


This book delved into the Philadelphia Convention and the Ratification Debates and showed how Madison being soft-spoken yet steadfast and sometimes even obdurate dedicated himself to the cause.  Mr. Gutzman touches on the "Federalist Papers" of which Madison authored 29 of them with other contributors Alexander Hamilton and John Jay.

Although he seemed to change his views in his later years, he always remained true to the Constitution regardless of his views save the chartering of the 2nd national bank and what would be categorised today as "infrastructure projects".  I was surprised to learn that Jefferson and Madison were proponents of colonization of freed slaves. This is something I always "credited" to Lincoln.

This is a great book and I enjoyed it very much.  I recommend it as required reading for anyone interested in the original intent of the Constitution from ONE of its architects.

Another great book Mr. Gutzman.

Hardcover: 432 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Press (February 14, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312625006
ISBN-13: 978-0312625009