How Did James Madison Contribute To A Strong Central Government

He was born three years before the outbreak of the French and Indian War and died three months after the fall of the Alamo. In between, this physically diminutive, often frail man did as much to chart the course of American history as any single individual before or since.

This month marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of James Madison – Founding Father, author of the U.S. Constitution, co-founder of the University of Virginia, fourth President of the United States and guiding light for generations of Americans seeking to interpret and preserve our hard-won freedoms. Today, when so many of those freedoms are threatened by – or have already perished at the hands of – an increasingly meddlesome U.S. government, it is wise to reflect on one

Like many of his fellow revolutionaries, he was against a powerful national government while the war with Britain raged, but afterward quickly realized that the Articles of Confederation – the guidelines under which the new nation operated – were woefully inadequate.

Drafted in 1777 during the Revolutionary War, the Articles reflected the wariness of the states toward a strong central government. Fearful that their individual needs would be ignored by a national government with too much power, and of the abuses that inevitably result from such power, the Articles deliberately established a "constitution" that gave the largest share of power to the individual states.

Under the Articles, each of the states retained their "sovereignty, freedom and independence."

And they behaved independently, of both the federal government and each other. The concept of a nation of states pulling together toward a common end didn't interest them in the least. Madison realized that if the nation was to survive, the Articles would have to be replaced with a document that solidified the footing of the federal government and gave it broader

He knew that if Americans were to live free and prosper, they would have to severely curtail the scope and power of government. Power, he wrote, has an encroaching nature and should be restrained from passing the limits placed on it.

"If men were angels," noted Madison in Federalist 47, "no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

Unfortunately, the limits were passed so frequently that, by 1912, few people were alarmed by the actions of a Staunton, Virginia-born politician bent on refashioning America's financial profile at the expense of its citizens. With a deep-seated belief in the ability of government to enhance lives, Woodrow Wilson did more to undercut Madison’s masterpiece than any other president before