Good choice of reading material.
We have a lot to thank Madison for.
Washington picked the “right” man to get it done.
My copy is pretty old, I understand it has been reprinted again. I wonder why it is not available in text format on the web. It is the best reference piece for those who want to determine why the founders put what they did in place in the Constitution.
Here are his notes in a daily format. I do not understand why they presented them this way.
http://www.nhccs.org/Mnotes.html
And if my count is correct, this work actually took place over the span of 87 actual work days for the Convention.
Amazing work.
I finished the last page about two hours ago. This is a critical source for understanding the Constitution, and a Rosetta Stone explaining many subsequent events and politics in US History. Those who read topical snippets and quotes on an internet search page, as opposed to reading the text through, miss the ebb and flow that went into balancing almost every issue, many windows into the characters and views of the delegates, and their many prescient, if sometimes dismal, observations. Note that relatively few of the attendees actually participaed substantively in debate, but made their contribution each time the State delegations gave a yes or no on the particulars. The contrarian ideas of some (e.g., Elbridge Gerry) are amusing, and of others (e.g., A. Hamilton) quite revealing. One wonders if Mr. Jefferson had a glance at Mr. Madison’s “secret” record.
I began reading the Notes out of interest in both Hamilton’s views, and the “Natural Born Citizen” issue (spurred by what proved to be misstatements of fact attributed to the Notes). The Notes do not provide definitive or clear answers on the NBC question. Very late in the Convention (Sept 4, 1787), the eleven member Committee on Remaining Matters presented its report dated August 31, 1787. It for the first time proposed the natural born citizen language as a Presidential qualification; this language was approved “without contradiction” on September 7. This implies that the phrase was well understood by the delegates. It is consistent with prior discussion about the danger of foreign influence on Senators. It also pushes the inquiry into definition back to what these eleven committeemen understood the term to mean. I am not sure if records of the Committee itself are extant or available (please advise if you know where to find such; I am going to try the four volume treatment of the Convention by Max Ferrand).
After reading the Notes, in no way would I trust our contemporaries to revise the Constitution in a new Convention, as some on the Left and Right propose. There are too few men/women of sufficient intellect, diligence, and integrity on the national scene. The delegates certainly represented vested interests, but managed to rise above them when it mattered. I cannot imagine that happening now.
So enjoy the read, and salute Mr. Madison for his service to his nation and to history.
The minutes are also posted here in daily format:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/debcont.asp
Yes, I think my favorite day was June 23’s (?) observations from Madison on the regulation of suffrage, and the purpose of the (not-popularly-elected) Senate to guard against what we now call progressivism, since property rights can’t be trusted to pure democracies (where there is also one man one vote) - there will always be more numbers of people who “secretly sigh” for a more equal distribution of property, than who don’t. Elbridge Gerry, Mr. Randolph, Mason, and others I’m forgetting.. - all good. Keep spreading the word.
Randolph - paraphrasing - predicted Pelosi-Obama
The purpose of the senate will be to guard the Constitution against the demagogues of the popular branch, who will be apt to form combinations with the executive.
I copied the minutes of the Convention from the source I listed and changed the naming convention slightly and merged all the text files (listed by date) into one big file (using cat from command line in linux and piped it into a seperate file). Now I have an electronic searchable version of the document.
“... ping you in a month or two (about how often I clean out my general ‘favorites’) to read The Business of May Next: James Madison and the Founding by William Lee Miller.
It pulls a lot of Madison’s aims together and fleshes out the process of the Founding, and is very well written.”
The most enlightening and enjoyable book to read following reading the notes.