The Presidency of James Madison

247 Pages·1990·6.322 MB·English

by  Robert Allen Rutland

The Presidency of
JAMES
M ADISON
AMERICAN PRESIDENCY SERIES
Donald R. McCoy, Clifford S. Griffin, Homer E. Socolofsky
General Editors
George Washington, Forrest McDonald
John Adams, Ralph Adams Brown
Thomas Jefferson, Forrest McDonald
James Madison, Robert Allen Rutland
John Quincy Adams, Mary W. M. Hargreaves
Andrew Jackson, Donald B. Cole
Martin Van Buren, Major L. Wilson
William Henry Harrison & John Tyler, Norma Lois Peterson
James K. Polk, Paul H. Bergeron
Zachary Taylor & Millard Fillmore, Elbert B. Smith
Franklin Pierce, Larry Gara
James Buchanan, Elbert B. Smith
Abraham Lincoln, Phillip Shaw Paludan
Andrew Johnson, Albert Castel
Rutherford B. Hayes, Ari Hoogenboom
James A. Garfield & Chester A. Arthur, Justus D. Doenecke
Grover Cleveland, Richard E. Welch, Jr.
Benjamin Harrison, Homer B. Socolofsky & Allan B. Spetter
William McKinley, Lewis L. Gould
Theodore Roosevelt, Lewis L. Gould
William Howard Taft, Paolo E. Coletta
Woodrow Wilson, Kendrick A. Clements
Warren G. Harding, Eugene P. Trani & David L. Wilson
Herbert C. Hoover, Martin L. Fausold
Harry S. Truman, Donald R. McCoy
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chester J. Pach, Jr., & Elmo Richardson
John F. Kennedy, James N. Giglio
Lyndon B. Johnson, Vaughn Dayis Bomet
James Earl Carter, Jr., Burton I. Kaufman
The Presidency of
JAMES
MADISON
Robert Allen Rutland
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KANSAS
© 1990 by the University Press of Kansas
All rights reserved
Published by the University Press of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas
66049), which was organized by the Kansas
Board of Regents and is operated and funded by Emporia
State University, Fort Hays State University,
Kansas State University, Pittsburg State University, the
University of Kansas, and Wichita State University
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rutland, Robert Allen, 1922-
The presidency of James Madison / Robert Allen Rutland,
p. cm. (American presidency series)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7006-0465-0 (alk. paper)
1. United States—Politics and government—1809-1817.
2. Madison, James, 1751-1836. 3. United States—History—War of 1812.
I. Title. II. Series.
E341.R87 1990 973.5T092-dc20 89-70419
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1984.
To Norman A. Graebner
Valued Friend, Outstanding Scholar

CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Preface xi
1 Prologue 1
2 Storm Signals from the Senate 3
3 The Virginia Dynasty Continues 19
4 More "Splendid Misery" 51
5 A Time to Heal, a Time to Wound 71
6 The Dogs of War Unleashed 99
7 The Fuse of War Sputters 133
8 A Capital's Not for Burning 155
9 Dawn of an Era, Twilight of a Party 183
Bibliographical Essay 215
Index 225
vii

FOREWORD
The aim of the American Presidency Series is to present historians and
the general reading public with interesting, scholarly assessments of the vari­
ous presidential administrations. These interpretive surveys are intended to
cover the broad ground between biographies, specialized monographs, and
journalistic accounts. As such, each will be a comprehensive, synthetic work
which will draw upon the best in pertinent secondary literature, yet leave
room for the authors own analysis and interpretation.
Volumes in the series will present the data essential to understanding the
administration under consideration. Particularly, each book will treat the then
current problems facing the United States and its people and how the presi­
dent and his associates felt about, thought about, and worked to cope with
these problems. Attention will be given to how the office developed and
operated during the president's tenure. Equally important will be considera­
tion of the vital relationships between the president, his staff, the executive
officers, Congress, foreign representatives, the judiciary, state officials, the
public, political parties, the press, and influential private citizens. The series
will also be concerned with how this unique American institution — the pres­
idency—was viewed by the presidents, and with what results.
All this will be set, insofar as possible, in the context not only of con­
temporary politics but also of economics, international relations, law, morals,
public administration, religion, and thought. Such a broad approach is neces­
sary to understanding, for a presidential administration is more than the
elected and appointed officers composing it, since its work so often reflects
the major problems, anxieties, and glories of the nation. In short, the au­
thors in this series will strive to recount and evaluate the record of each ad­
ministration and to identify its distinctiveness and relationships to the past,
its own time, and the future.
The General Editors