Madison and Jefferson Read Free Page A

seize on one attribute of an individual’s behavior and enlarge it to explain, in the broadest terms, his or her impulses. In the interest of a flowing narrative, much conscientious history is sacrificed. It happens often. The more intensively one researches, the hardier a book’s organizing themes are, and the easier it is to become attached to the book’s trajectory. For this reason, the research process is both a gold mine and a land mine. Contentment is the researcher’s enemy. All of us know what the stakes are when we attempt to overturn received wisdom. We know that readers will judge how scrupulous we have been.
    Of the coauthors, Andrew Burstein has previously concentrated on Jefferson as a citizen of the republic of letters, a political writer, and an ex-president contemplating his own mortality. Nancy Isenberg has tackled Jefferson’s political instincts insofar as they explain the troubled relationship he had as president with his controversial first-term vice president, Aaron Burr. In refocusing on the founding era, our purpose is not to privilege Madison but merely to restore balance where the historical record is skewed.
    Perhaps the bookseller was on to something when he called Madison “more profound,” though genius, especially political genius, cannot be defined in rational terms. If Jefferson occasionally used language as camouflage, he charged his words with feeling. That is why his popular appeal is unmatched by any in his time. Madison was appreciated for his candor, but candor usually comes in second place behind imagination in the business of constructing a national memory.
    This is a history of two men operating in a world whose cultural and intellectual boundaries Americans are still trying to draw accurately. In that world, the pursuit of happiness was a matter of grave uncertainty. Although it is hard to find agreement among scholars, all are likely to grant that together Madison and Jefferson introduced a mode of persuasion that changed political discourse and moved the country in directions it probably would not otherwise have gone. If history must be a story, then that is the story we tell in this book.

Chronology
1743 April 13                     
Thomas Jefferson born at Shadwell (Albemarle County), Virginia
1751 March 16
James Madison, Jr., born on the plantation of his maternal relations, raised at Montpelier (Orange County), Virginia
1760–62
Jefferson attends the College of William and Mary
1769–72
Madison attends the College of New Jersey (Princeton)
1772 January
Jefferson marries the widow Martha (Patty) Wayles Skelton
1774 July
Jefferson writes
A Summary View of the Rights of British America
1774 August
First Virginia Convention meets in Williamsburg
1774 September
First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia
1775 March
Second Virginia Convention meets; Patrick Henry delivers “Give me liberty” speech; Jefferson elected to the Second Continental Congress
1775 April
Battles of Lexington and Concord
1775 May
Second Continental Congress holds opening meeting
1775 July
Third Virginia Convention establishes Committee of Safety
1776 May
Madison joins Virginia Convention, which instructs its delegation in Philadelphia to move for independence
1776 June
Virginia Declaration of Rights, George Mason its principal author; Richard Henry Lee moves for independence; Jefferson assigned responsibility for drafting Declaration of Independence
1776 October
Madison and Jefferson meet for the first time
1777
Reverend James Madison becomes president of William and Mary
1778
Madison boards with Reverend Madison, as he serves on Governor Patrick Henry’s Council of Advisors; Jefferson in Williamsburg during Assembly sessions
1779 June
Jefferson elected governor of Virginia; Madison remains on Council of Advisors
1780 March
Madison enters Congress (Philadelphia)
1781 January
Benedict Arnold invades Virginia, marches on Richmond
1781 June
Jefferson’s governorship