The Political Philosophy of James Madison

Download or read book The Political Philosophy of James Madison written by Garrett Ward Sheldon and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2003-02-13 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the history of Madison's thought to his early education in Protestant theology, Sheldon argues that it was a fear of the potential "tyranny of the majority" over individual rights, along with a firmly Calvinist suspicion of the motives of sinful men, that led him to support a constitution creating a strong central government with power over state laws. In this way, Madison aimed to protect individual liberties and provide checks to "spiteful" human interests and selfish parochial prejudices.