The Last of the Fathers: James Madison and the Republican LegacyJames Madison survived longer than any other member of the most remarkable generation of political leaders in American history. Born in the middle of the eighteenth century as a subject of King George II, the Father of the United States Constitution lived until 1836, when he died a citizen of Andrew Jackson's republic. For over forty years he played a pivotal role in the creation and defense of a new political order. He lived long enough to see even that Revolutionary world transformed, and the system of government he had nurtured threatened by the disruptive forces of a new era that would ultimately lead to civil war. In recounting the experience of Madison and several of his legatees who witnessed the violent test of whether his republic could endure, McCoy dramatizes the actual working out in human lives of critical cultural and political issues. |
Contents
The character of the good statesman | 9 |
The character of the good republic Justice stability and the constitution | 39 |
Retrospect and prospect Congress and the perils of popular government | 85 |
Memory and meaning Nullification and the lost world of the founding | 119 |
The republic transformed Population economy and society | 171 |
Accommodation The Old Dominion | 217 |
Other editions - View all
The Last of the Fathers: James Madison and the Republican Legacy Drew R. McCoy No preview available - 1989 |
Common terms and phrases
Albemarle County American appeared Bonus Bill Calhoun career character Coles's colonization Constitution constitutionality convention Corbin crisis danger debate delegates Dolley Madison early economic Edward Coles emancipation especially faith federal government Federalist free blacks Grigsby Harriet Martineau Historical Society ibid issue Jackson James Madison Jeffersonian Judith Rives Lafayette later legacy legislative legislature Letters Library of Congress Madison Papers majority Martineau ment Monticello Montpelier moral Negroes never Nicholas Nicholas Trist nullifiers numbers Old Dominion opinion party passion Philadelphia Philadelphia convention political popular president principle Randolph Report of 1800 republic republican retirement Revolution Richmond Rives and Fendall Rives Papers Rives to W. C. Rives's Robert series one microfilm slavery slaves South southern stitution tariff tion Trist Papers Union United views Virginia W. C. Rives Walsh Washington William Cabell Rives Writings of Madison York young