6/11/2023 0 Comments James madison![]() ![]() ![]() (Image via Library of Congress, painted by Charles Wilson Peale in 1783, public domain) Madison deterred a bill that established Christianity as the Virginia state religion But Madison was equally concerned with remedying the internal injustices of states, the tendency of state-level majorities to violate the rights of individuals and minorities. Like most other delegates, he sought to remedy the weaknesses of the federal government under the Articles of Confederation. He amended draft language on religious liberty to remove the weaker word toleration and instead to declare “that all men are equally entitled to enjoy the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.” Madison played a crucial role in calling the Constitutional Convention of 1787, in Philadelphia, and in shaping deliberations during the convention. In the spring of 1776 he served on a committee preparing a Declaration of Rights for Virginia’s new constitution. In 1769 he enrolled at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) and came under the intellectual and political influence of the college’s new president, John Witherspoon, whose stated goal was to foster a spirit of liberty and free enquiry and who opened the curriculum to currents of religious and political dissent.Īfter returning to Virginia, Madison joined passionately in the political ferment of the impending revolution. Madison was born to a well-established Virginia planter family. Madison's helped prepare a Declaration of Rights for Virginia's constitution Republican government was endangered, he believed, if unrestrained majorities violated the rights of individuals or if elected officials were immune from the scrutiny of a free press. His life’s work, as statesman and as political theorist, was to secure the American revolutionary experiment by guarding against its own potential weaknesses and excesses. Madison played a central role in drafting, explaining, and ratifying the Constitution after it was ratified he sought to reassure its critics by adding guarantees of fundamental liberties. James Madison (1751–1836), the chief author of the Bill of Rights and thus of the First Amendment, was the foremost champion of religious liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press in the Founding Era. Madison played a central role in drafting, explaining, and ratifying the Constitution after it was ratified he sought to reassure its critics by adding guarantees of fundamental liberties.(Image via the National Gallery of Art, painted by Gilbert Stuart circa 1821, public domain)
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