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Feb. 6, 2022

4.01 – Madison Pre-Presidency Part One

4.01 – Madison Pre-Presidency Part One

Year(s) Discussed: 1653-1785

As part of a family that had been on a steady rise in society since its earliest days in the Virginia colony, James Madison, Jr. was expected to do great things from the time of his birth, but his family could scarcely have imagined the heights to which he would rise. After an accelerated collegiate career and a few initial stumbles as a young man, Madison gradually worked his way into becoming a force in state and national politics. However, as someone not content with ignoring issues in the status quo, Madison would soon find his calling as a champion for innovation.

Special thanks to Shawn from the American History Podcast for providing the intro quote and for Christian at Your Podcast Pal for his audio editing services for this episode!

The transcript for this episode can be found at this link.

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  • Feldman, Noah. The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President. New York: Random House, 2017.
  • Gutzman, Kevin R C. James Madison and the Making of America. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
  • Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison: A Biography. Charlottesville, VA and London: University Press of Virginia, 1994 [1971].
  • Madison, James. “Commonplace Book, 1759–1772,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-01-02-0002. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 1, 16 March 1751 – 16 December 1779, ed. William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1962, pp. 4–32.] [Last Accessed: 21 Dec 2021]
  • Madison, James. “To Reverend Thomas Martin, 10 August 1769,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-01-02-0004. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, vol. 1, 16 March 1751 – 16 December 1779, ed. William T. Hutchinson and William M. E. Rachal. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1962, pp. 42–44.] [Last Accessed: 9 Dec 2021]
  • Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the Virginian: Jefferson and His Time, Volume One. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1948.
  • Signer, Michael. Becoming Madison: The Extraordinary Origins of the Least Likely Founding Father. New York: PublicAffairs, 2015.
  • Stewart, David O. Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2016 [2015].

Cover Art Image: “James Madison, Class of 1771” by James Sharples [c. pre-1811], courtesy of Wikipedia

Intro and Outro Music: Selections from “Jefferson and Liberty” as performed by The Itinerant Band