Presidents and Political Thought

4. James Madison: Political Theory Must Be Made to Counteract Political Theory

Chapter 4 James Madison: Political Theory Must Be Made to Counteract Political Theory Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government [democracies], have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions. —James Madison, Federalist No. 10, November 1787 A government deriving its energy from the will of the society, and operating by the reason of its measures, on the understanding and interest of the society . . . is the government for which philosophy has been searching, and humanity has been fighting, from the most remote ages. Such are republican governments which it is the glory of America to have invented, and her unrivalled happiness to possess. —James Madison (“Helvidius”), letter to the National Gazette, February 20, 1792 James Madison is one of the few politicians who are routinely recognized as political theorists. Madison’s reputation as a profound, original political thinker is based primarily on his efforts in formulating and explaining the nature of the United States Constitution. He did so most famously in The Federalist, the newspaper editorial series he coauthored with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay which argued for the Constitution ’s ratification in 1787 and 1788. In the preceding months he had written the Virginia Plan, the template for discussion at the Constitutional Convention. In succeeding years he served in the House of Representatives , where he wrote the proposed amendments which became the Bill 74 75 James Madison of Rights and organized the opposition party which objected to the Federalists ’ stewardship of the new national government. In each of these endeavors, Madison consulted political philosophy and thought in characteristically theoretical ways. The pair of quotes above go a long way in explaining how Madison approached political theory. He was not shy about concluding that “theoretic politicians” were wrong. In fact, he frequently found that political theory and those who consulted it fell prey to erroneous generalizations. For example, many who were devoted to popular government made unwarranted assumptions that utopian results could be achieved merely by “reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights.” These thinkers were misinformed. It took the Americans to “invent” and implement workable republican governments. Madison was too modest to say it, but he himself had played a critical role in developing the workable republican theory which they had implemented. In doing so he had drawn on and built up alternatives to the conventional wisdom which had been offered by other political theorists. Madison’s relationship to political theory was that of a believing skeptic. Madison placed a great deal of emphasis on discerning the proper theory of politics. His reading in the discipline may not have been quite as varied or as consistent as John Adams’s was, but what he lacked in constant attention, he made up for in depth of insight. Adams divided political theory into two broad categories: the good—the writings of historically grounded devotees of the mixed constitution—and the bad—the “ideologians” who tried to impose their own preconceived and untested notions on politics. There was not great subtlety in this approach. In a strangely similar manner, Thomas Jefferson had a polarized perspective as well: ancient theories had to be cast aside in favor of the new and true science of politics outlined by Enlightenment thinkers. Madison was much less prone to make such stark categorizations. He delved into political theory more deeply than Jefferson and considered it more critically than Adams. As a result his political thought was more nuanced than either of his predecessors in the presidency. To Adams, the major discoveries in political thought were very few and these discoveries were to be jealously defended. Adams did not even dare to hope to make a new discovery in the theory of politics himself; it was difficult enough to convince people of the few truths which had been discerned across the millennia. To Jefferson, the Enlightenment was the philosophy of common sense. Its embrace did not take great intellectual effort. Government was properly a bare-bones framework which would allow free individuals to invent the lives and the things which would help remake the world. 76 Presidents and Political Thought Unlike Jefferson, Madison did expend massive intellectual effort on political theory, and unlike Adams, in doing so he intended to make new discoveries in the theory...