American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding (American Political Thought (University of Kansas)) [Hardcover]

Gary Rosen (Author)

Book Description

Series: American Political Thought (University of Kansas) | Publication Date: June 1, 1999

For students of the early American republic, James Madison has long been something of a riddle, the member of the founding generation whose actions and thought most stubbornly resist easy summary. The staunchest of Federalists in the 1780s, Madison would turn on his former allies shortly thereafter, renouncing their expansive nationalism as a threat to the Constitution and to popular government. In a study that combines penetrating textual analysis with deep historical awareness, Gary Rosen stakes out important new ground by showing the philosophical consistency in Madison's long and controversial public life. The key, he argues, is Madison's profound originality as a student of the social compact, the venerable liberal idea into which he introduced several novel, and seemingly illiberal, principles. Foremost among these was the need for founding to be the work of an elite few. For Madison, prior accounts of the social compact, in their eagerness to establish the proper ends of government, provided a hopelessly naive account of its origin. As he saw it, the Federal Convention of 1787 was an opportunity for those of outstanding prudence (understood in its fullest Aristotelian sense) to do for the people what they could not do for themselves. This troublesome reliance on the few was balanced, Rosen contends, by Madison's commitment to republicanism as an end in itself, a conclusion that he likewise drew from the social compact, accommodating the proud political claims that his philosophical predecessors had failed to recognize. Rosen goes on to show how Madison's idiosyncratic understanding of the social compact illuminates his differences not only with Hamilton but with Jefferson as well. Both men, Madison feared, were too ready to resort to original principles in coming to terms with the Constitution, putting at risk the fragile achievement of the founding in their determination to invoke, respectively, the claims of the few and the many. As American Compact persuasively concludes, Madison's ideas on the origin and aims of the Constitution are not just of historical interest. They carry crucial lessons for our own day, and speak directly to current disputes over diversity, constitutional interpretation, the fate of federalism, and the possibilities and limits of American citizenship.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Rosen argues persuasively that James Madison has been unfairly criticized by historians, who charge him with inconsistency or political expediency throughout his career. Rosen demonstrates that Madison's shifts from Hamiltonian strong government views to Jeffersonian suspicion of big government were not really fickle accommodations to the prevailing political winds. Rather, he sees Madison as adhering throughout his career to his interpretation of the Constitution and the process by which it was founded. In his own idiosyncratic way, Madison stuck to a position between Hamilton's and Jefferson's. Rosen is associate editor of Commentary, and this book is a revised version of his Harvard Ph.D. dissertation. While heavy going for general readers, it should prove valuable for specialists and serious students of American constitutional history. Rosen offers perceptive analysis of how Madison continues to influence politicians and legal experts. Some of Rosen's points might be too strong (e.g., his argument that the Christian Right is one of the most ardently Madisonian movements in today's political scene), but he has done thorough research and argues his points cogently. Highly recommended for universities and large public libraries.AThomas J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

". . . not only does Mr. Rosen offer an instructive re-examination of Madisonian thought, he also gives a nuanced portrait of Madison's hard-headed answer to the delicate problem of state-making." -- The Wall Street Journal, Bret Louis Stephens

"Deeply reasoned . . . an intriguing if densely argued examination of a key element in Madison's thinking." -- Journal of American History, Jack N. Rakove

"In Gary Rosen's hands, Madison is the innovative theorist of the social compact that is the foundation of natural rights and our limited constitutional government." -- The New Republic, Gordon S. Wood

"Rosen's American Compact is a thoughtful and often insightful attempt to come to terms with Madison's political thought. It advances our understanding of Madison's reflections on the liberal foundations of government and, in particular, the place of the Constitutional Convention. And it provides new insight into how Madison himself came to understand the broad differences between himself and Jefferson and Hamilton." -- The Weekly Standard, Gary Schmitt

"This book is powerfully argued, elegantly written, and it represents an important contribution to the current renaissance in founding studies." -- American Historical Review, C. Bradley Thompson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 252 pages
• Publisher: University Press Of Kansas; 3rd ptg edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700609601
• ISBN-13: 978-0700609604
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,702 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Consistency in Madison's Constitutional Thinking, August 15, 2001

By 

"the_independent_review" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding (American Political Thought (University of Kansas)) (Hardcover)

Excerpted from The Independent Review (Summer 2001) by Hans Eicholz

Rosen presents one point of view, which puts in practice a fairly pure version of what is generally called the "Straussian" interpretive approach. As a historian, I have some strong reservations about his method. Nonetheless, Rosen has made some significant contributions in this monograph.

Rosen correctly notes that scholars have usually ignored Madison's actions as president. They tend to stop with his service in the first federal Congress, as if only his transition from nationalist Publius to state's rights Republican needed to be explained. Rosen's work seeks to fill an important gap in the literature. A nice example is his treatment of the Bank of the United States.

Because Rosen relies almost entirely on Madison's own accounts, we get little sense of the historical context in which Madison was operating. Rather, we get a very streamlined theoretical account of Hobbes, Locke, and Aristotle, and caricatures of Jefferson and Hamilton. The effect is to produce a truncated picture of Madison's intellectual world.

Rosen has made some useful suggestions for approaching Madison's constitutional thought, but he has not adequately developed them, primarily because of his inattention to history.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Madison Revealed, August 27, 2000

By 

Kevin Brogan (Micco, Fla.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding (American Political Thought (University of Kansas)) (Hardcover)

American Compact merits serious consideration by those of legitimate concern with the evolvement of the American Ethic. Self described as a rehabilitation of Madison as a statesman and politician, Rosen's effort greatly exceeds his goal. Tracing the chronicles of Madison's intellect, enlightenment, and experience the myths of this Virginian are dismantled in a scholarly, and prudent fashion. From the claim of Madison's apostacy to his own nationalistic principles in the 1790s ,his demotion to a lieutenant of Jefferson's, or a 'trimmer' Rosen convincingly destroys those myths, and frees Madison from the framework of being considered only in light of his friend Jefferson, and, or, his protagonist Hamilton. In the spirit of Banning and McCoy a fresh view of the Father of the Constitution is afforded those who read the book, to those who study it, a conduit to the allusive Original Intent is possible. The greatest lessons that emerge are the veracity of Madison's claim of consistancy throughout his career, and a clear view of Madison's working to construct a document of national power, which he realized the average man could not accomplish, and then turning it back over to the citizenry not only for ratification, but for the participation Madison saw as required by the principles of the revolution.