James Madison (1751-1836) was an American political thinker, legislator, constitutional architect, secretary of state, and fourth president. Often called the father of the Constitution, he helped frame the Virginia Plan, coauthored The Federalist Papers, drafted the Bill of Rights, and later preserved detailed notes of the Constitutional Convention.
Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance and Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention show him as both principled advocate and institutional anatomist. Memorial and Remonstrance, written in 1785 against a Virginia religious assessment bill, argues that religion must be free from state coercion because conscience is prior to civil society and cannot be surrendered to government.
