Madison's role in the constitutional period

Boyes identifies an important, perhaps the most important issue in chapters 3 and 4 in his discussion of the mediating role of Madison.

Madison seems to to have evolved in his thinking and moved from the Hamilton camp in his work on the Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention to his close ties to Jefferson and the republican perspective as the last decade of the 18th century died. I say seems, because a scholar of the era, constitution and Madison argues for a consistency in Madison - I referenced this scholar in a previous post and strongly recommend a listen to his views:

Larry Kramer

“Madison and the Constitution”

Stanford University, July 20, 2009
Running Time: 39:19
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historians/podcasts/podcast.php?podcast_id=519
(Note: requires registration - and the podcast series is outstanding - Gordon Wood has 3 podcasts here - one in which he overviews Empire of Liberty).

What was James Madison's background? How did he feel about the idea of democracy? What ideas did he contribute to the drafting of the Constitution? Larry Kramer, Dean at Stanford Law School, discusses Madison's legacy.