The Political Philosophy of James Madison (The Political Philosophy of the American Founders)

Description

"In this book, Garrett Ward Sheldon offers a concise synthesis of Madison's political philosophy in the context of the social and political history of his day.". "Tracing the history of Madison's thought of his early education in Protestant theology, Sheldon argues that it was a fear of the potential "tyranny of the majority" over individual rights, along with a firmly Calvinist suspicion of the motives of sinful men, that led him to support a constitution creating a strong central government with power over state laws. In this way, Madison aimed to protect individual liberties and provide checks to "spiteful" human interests and selfish parochial prejudices. Among the topics Sheldon covers are Madison's Princeton education, his contributions to the Federalist Papers, his arguments in defense of states' rights on behalf of Virginia, his views on federal power during his terms as secretary of state and president and, in his later years, his defense of the Union against those Southerners who advocated nullification."--BOOK JACKET.

First Sentence

BY THE END of the millennium, scholarship concerning early American political theory had reached a basic consensus, namely that three main ideologies existed during the Revolutionary and early Republican periods: Lockean liberalism, classical republicanism, and Protestant Christianity.

Subjects

Other Editions

• The Political Philosophy of James Madison (The Political Philosophy of the American Founders)HardcoverThe Johns Hopkins University Press2000-10-17
• The Political Philosophy of James Madison (The Political Philosophy of the American Founders)PaperbackThe Johns Hopkins University Press2003-01-03