Business of May Next: James Madison and the Founding

by William Lee Miller

Book Overview

"Good fortune offered this nation an unusual chance at ideal nation-forming and...some honorable leaders seized that chance," writes William Lee Miller in The Business of May Next, and none among the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813914906
• ISBN13: 9780813914909
• Release Date: November 1993
• Publisher: University of Virginia Press
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Understanding Madison's Importance

The Busines of May Next is easily the best book I have ever read on James Madison's intellectual journey from his dismay over the ineffectiveness of the Articles of Confederation to his draft of the Virginia Plan, which was the underlying foundation of our Constitution. The title is taken from a letter Madison wrote in which he discussed the "business" of the upcoming Constitutional Convention (in May of 1789), of which Madison--along with Alexander Hamiltion--was the prime mover. Miller's book expertly and eloquently explores the influences on Madison's thinking, from his reading of David Hume's essays on the ideal conditions for a republic, to his correspondence with Washington, Jefferson and many others in which he fleshed out his ideas of how to turn the weak, ineffectual Articles into a government that had both power and staying power.As Miller points out, Madison's genius was his understanding of human behavior, and his awareness that any government must be shaped in ways that take advantage of the "better angels of our nature," but also (more important) minimize, or at least accommodate, the darker side of our nature. By fashioning a government with limited and shared powers; by holding frequent elections in which the leaders are held accountable; by ensuring that the people possess certain rights that no government can threaten (on pain of being altered or abolished), Madison was the first among equals in the creation of a truly representative government that has lasted more than 200 years and shows no signs of dying out. Miller himself is one of the few (William Manchester is another) historians whose thorough research is matched by his delightful writing style. I have two copies of the book--a hardcopy for reading and a paperback for underlining.

Excellent

This is a very good discussion of Madison's role in the development of the Consitution. Very readabl