204 JAMES MADISON 



this point, of the most transcendent kind. We have 

 seen that he played a leading part in the difficult work 

 of getting a convention to assemble ; the merit of this 

 he shares with other eminent men, and notably with 

 Washington and Hamilton. Then he was chief author 

 of the most fundamental features in the Constitution, 

 those which transformed our government from a loose 

 and feeble confederacy of states into a strong federal 

 nation ; and to him is due the principal credit for the 

 compromise that made the adoption of the Constitution 

 possible for all the states. After the adjournment of 

 the convention his services did not cease. Among 

 those whose influence in bringing about the ratifica- 

 tion of the Constitution was felt all over the country, 

 he shares with Hamilton the foremost place. Accord- 

 ing to his own memorandum he was the author of 

 twenty-nine of the essays in the " Federalist," while 

 fifty-one were written by Hamilton and five by Jay. 

 Some of the essays, however, seem to have been writ- 

 ten by Madison and Hamilton jointly, and as to others 

 there has been more or less dispute. The question is 

 not of great importance. Very likely Madison would 

 have had a larger share in the work had he not been 

 obliged, in March, 1 788, to return to Virginia, in order 

 to take part in the state convention for deciding upon 

 the ratification of the Constitution. Here the task 

 before him, though not so arduous as that of Hamilton 

 in the New York convention, was arduous enough. 

 Unlike his friend Jefferson, who could hardly speak in 

 public, Madison was one of the most formidable par- 

 liamentary debaters that ever lived. Without a par- 

 ticle of eloquence or of what is called personal 

 magnetism, with a dry style and a mild, unimpassioned 



