Road to War, Part 7: Madison Changes Sides

The New Nation
Written By Tom Hand

In February 1789, James Madison was elected to the House of Representatives for the first Congress under the Constitution. Besides leading the House, Madison helped shape the Washington administration, drafting President Washington’s inaugural address and recommending Alexander Hamilton for Secretary of the Treasury and Thomas Jefferson for Secretary of State. But a break soon developed between the Madison-Jefferson faction, known as Democratic-Republicans, and Washington’s Federalist administration over Hamilton's plan for the national government to assume state debt incurred during the war.

Tom Hand, creator and publisher of Americana Corner, explores the motives behind James Madison’s switch from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republican movement, and why it still matters today. 

 

Images courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery, Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, U.S. Senate Collection, National Portrait Gallery - Smithsonian Institution, National Archives, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Public Library, Library Company of Philadelphia, U.S. House of Representatives, Wikimedia. 

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Road to War, Part 6: James Madison, Father of the Constitution