The Madisons at Montpelier: Reflections on the Founding Couple (review)

There is, perhaps, no one better-suited to write about the closing years of James Madison and his wife, Dolley, than Ralph Ketcham, a scholar who has dedicated his professional life to this subject. Employing the same care for detail used in his earlier Madison biography, Ketcham reveals the less-often-told story of the role of an American president once he has left the office and his unofficial role in shaping the course of public and private policies.

According to Ketcham, as James and Dolley Madison left Washington in April 1817 and retired to Montpelier for a much-deserved rest, they left behind a legacy and an American political scene much different than the one into which they had been born. The new nation, having survived its first international conflict, was no longer a republican experiment but a reality. As the nation's "first couple," they had also done much to establish the protocols and social milieu within which much of the new nation's business was conducted. Surrounded by family and friends, the childless couple (Dolley had a son, Payne Todd, by a first marriage) continued in their retirement to offer at Montpelier refuge, company, and advice to all comers until Madison's death in June of 1836. Their frequent visitors left an abundance of observations concerning the couple which Ketcham has quite wisely allowed to speak for themselves.

The most fascinating parts of Ketcham's story are his insights into Madison's ongoing concerns for the republic he helped to establish: the issues of slavery and disunion. For example, Ketcham carefully details Madison's contradictory reactions to the institution of slavery. While Madison did not believe that slaves or their free counterparts had the capacity to function in society at the same level as their white contemporaries, and that the discussion of abolition threatened to fragment the Union, he found, "deep contradiction between the existence of slavery and the principles of republican government" (62). Similarly, Ketcham illustrates Madison's distrust of attempts to fragment the Union and challenges to the constitution such as those against the Tariff of 1828 led by "South Carolina and the 'Richmond Junto'" (57). Ketcham also points out the tension between Madison's need to offer his insights on the workings of the government and his reluctance to intervene in any official capacity. In retirement, he generally chose to serve from behind the scenes as in the Virginia convention in 1818, and on the governing board of the University of Virginia. Equally intriguing are Ketcham's commentaries on the last years of the Madisons' lives. While Madison observed sadly that, "having outlived so many of my contemporaries, I ought not forget that I may be thought to have outlived myself" (140), the former first couple spent their last years counseling and grooming the next generations.

Throughout the fabric of his narrative, Ketcham interweaves the original voices of the Madisons and their frequent visitors, and the work contains large excerpts from their original documents. The author's sources reveal the depth and breadth of Madison's thoughts and reflections on the new republic that he helped to fashion, and offer real insight into the generation that followed him. The reader takes away from Ketcham's text a sense of the emerging nation and a "first couple" that fostered its growth. The Madisons at Montpelier provides a valuable and alternative approach that narrates the course of a nation in transition from a private perspective.