American Compact
Subtitle: James Madison and the Problem of Founding (American Political Thought)
Publisher: University Press Of Kansas; University Press of Kansas
Published: June 1, 1999
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 252
ISBN-13: 9780700609604
Subjects: American history: c 1800 to c 1900; Political structure & processes; Social history; Politics/International Relations; Social Policy; U.S. History - Constitutional Period To Civil War (1789-1860); Political Science; Politics / Current Events; United States - Revolutionary War; USA; History & Theory - General; History-United States - Revolutionary War; Madison, James; Political Science / History & Theory; Public Affairs & Administration; 1751-1836; Contributions in political sci; Madison, James,; Social contract
Description: 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 textual analysis with 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.