James Madison: A Life Reconsidered Hardcover – May 6, 2014

Many years ago I read Ralph Ketcham’s biography of Madison with (at least at that time) its somewhat unusual gray cover. The book presented an image of Madison analogous to the cover. Ketcham’s biography is a scholarly richly detailed study of Madison’s life but I left the book not really knowing Madison as a human being and with a sense of the man as brilliant and incisive but not a particularly interesting person. Lynne Cheney’s biography is a completely different reading experience. She is an excellent writer who grabs the reader’s attention and never lets go. Cheney not only gives us the philosopher and political genius that was Madison but, through his letters, an excellent sense of the man. Madison was a husband to one of the most dynamic women in early America and a deeply close friend to one of the most controversial figures, Jefferson. Cheney lays out those relationships in rich detail. While I had to force myself at times to finish Ketcham’s book, never once did this book leave me cold. It is an exceptional biography.

Another advantage of Cheney’s book is that it provides a strong counterweight to the portrayal of Madison in Chernow’s biography of Hamilton. In that book Madison is quite consistently (after 1790) portrayed negatively because of his hostile relationship to Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. This book gives you the other side. Cheney explains the issues clearly and fairly. None of the other Founding Fathers lived as long as Madison or went through so many changes in roles, from author of the Bill of Rights and much of the Constitution itself to Congressman to President. Madison’s failures and inconsistencies, from his slave ownership to his problems as President, are here put into context. Cheney nowhere justifies Madison’s weaknesses but lets the reader see the development and historical issues surrounding them, often through Madison’s own words. This is an enlightening book not just about Madison but about life in colonial America. Though I had some concerns prior to reading the book about the author’s own political context, there is absolutely no political bias in this book. If the reader is looking for a book that humanizes one of the greatest minds in early American history, this is it. It is one of the best historical biographies on the market. I highly recommend it.

After finishing this book, I was a bit puzzled by the portion of the title “A Life Reconsidered”. This book was a straight up biography. What is there to reconsider? Does this book paint any new, jarring revelations about the man? Are there things that history has taught us that the author wants to disprove? If so, I never figured it out. Although I confess I didn’t know that much about James Madison other than he was one of the country’s founding fathers, the fourth President of the United States, and the author of the Constitution.

This book tells you all of this, but not that much more. To be honest, that’s o.k. I wasn’t necessarily looking for a 1,000-page tome on someone who lived over 200 years ago. In fact, this book seemed to go by rather quickly. We don’t really read much about his personal life. There are brief mentions of parents, siblings, and friends, but other than wife Dolley, this book is much more about facts and not so much about feeling. Even the famous Dolley doesn’t get that much attention paid to her. We also read a lot about Madison’s struggle with epilepsy and the primitive ‘cures’ that never seem to do much good.

So in many ways this biography is more of a history lesson of the times that Madison lived through than a deep dive into himself as a person. There certainly was a lot of history to be written about so, again, one doesn’t feel as though they’re not getting their fill within the pages. To be honest, I thought the first half of the book dragged somewhat. The minutia of the formation of the young country was a bit much. One must remember how challenging such a task was. How should this new country be run? Who decides such things? Obviously, there’s never any clear consensus, and even before the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the colonies found themselves split mainly within two ways of thinking. Actually, I do enjoy reading about the conflicts between the Federalists and the Republicans. It proves that conflicts between two political parties has never been anything new. People who think the nation is now severely divided need to read accounts such as this. Sadly, it’s always been politics first, the well-being of the nation second.

Once the Revolutionary War concludes and George Washington is elected the first president, the book picks up the pace. Author Lynne Cheney wisely doesn’t spend much time on Madison’s three predecessors in the White House (then called the ‘Executive Mansion’). Each president gets about one chapter each. In fact, when Madison is elected in 1808, there isn’t that much detail either. The one event that gets considerable detailed telling is the War of 1812 – the highlight being the burning of the Executive Mansion.

There were times when I forgot that I was reading a bio of James Madison and thought, instead, that I was reading a history book on the beginnings of the United States of America. Perhaps there really isn’t that much to know about Madison? I seem to recall at one point that there were letters written to him, or by him that were purposefully destroyed for some reason or another. Such a thing doesn’t seem such a big deal today, but back then, such correspondence was invaluable into the understanding of the people and the times, so it could be that the author tells us just about all there is to know – it just didn’t feel like very much. This is especially true when one has read books by Ron Chernow on such subjects as Washington, Hamilton, and Ulysses S. Grant.

I still enjoyed the book. The second half was definitely stronger. One who loves history really shouldn’t be disappointed, and the author, for the most part, stays away from over bearing her readers with unnecessary details and facts that the layman may not prefer to study in meticulous detail.

Mrs. Cheney used extensive primary resources to to tell the story of our fourth President.

So many of the lessons taught in schools about the Constitution are white washed. Mrs. Cheney properly put Madison in the political role to navigate the turmoil and back stabbing to get the Constitution written and ratified. The political battles during this time were second to none in our history. Ratification was not a given, Madison and his allies and enemies had to be brought together through compromise and promises. Madison's leadership in Congress, as Secretary of State under Jefferson was needed to move the nation forward. As the book implies, Madison was able to morph to meet the needs in his public life. He would collaborate with Federalists like Jay and Hamilton to get the Constitution the support it needed in the Federalists Papers. He showed that the Constitution could be a living document during his time as Secretary of State.

As President, Mrs. Cheney showed the master politician and leader as able to guide the nation. Warding off New England and Federalist secession and enemies in his own party, Madison led the nation during the War of 1812 in victory. Partly because of his political skills and perhaps largely because of pure luck, Madison finished his second term with a fast growing nation with the elements of the American republic experiment firmly established. Madison could have used force to control opposition but respected fundamental freedoms that the republic was mandated.

I would highly recommend this biography as being very credible. I would recommend it to the academic and the student. A greater understanding of the birth pains of our nation is found in this book.