Kaminski John P. Kaminski 
James Madison 
Liberty’s Advocate

A Word Portrait of an American Founder.America has had few political thinkers who have rivalled James Madison. The son of a wealthy planter, Madison was an unhealthy child and was beset by physical infirmities throughout his long life, and grew into a cerebral man. Madison left Virginia to attend the College of New Jersey, but returned to his native state after completing his studies. Though he aspired to be a college professor, Madison instead went into public service and became one of the most influential, guiding voices of the Founding Era. Madison s Virginia Plan would be used as a blueprint for the Constitutional Convention, where the Articles of Confederation would be replaced with a new Constitution that bore traces of Madison s influence throughout. Editor John Kaminski has gathered a remarkable collection of quotations by and about James Madison for the third installment of his Word Portraits of America s Founders series. Through these words by and about Madison, we learn more about one of the country s most influential Founding Fathers, who held a lifelong commitment to liberty and opposed oppression.