The more I read about the Founding Fathers, the more I’m attracted to Madison, as opposed to the manic Hamilton and the mercurial Jefferson. With his intellect and even temper, he reminds me of one of our contemporaries–Barack Obama.
His claim to indispensability is based on his role in creating the Constitution. He was heavily involved in the effort to call the Constitutional Convention. He played a very significant part at the Convention. He wrote Federalist No. 10. He led the effort to ratify the Constitution in Virginia. Finally, he was the compiler and principal drafter of the Bill of Rights. No one has a better claim to be the Father of the Constitution–it’s not even close.
Nothing about the writing and approval of the Constitution was in any way inevitable. And so, America would be a far different place without him. The country that we know simply wouldn’t exist.