James Madison

An interesting place to visit is Madison's home in VA.

While certainly not as famous as Jefferson's Montecello, it does shed some light on the personage of "The Father of the Constitution."

And, yes, his wife Dolley DID have ice cream available! A visit to their place will reveal just how she managed to keep it cool during those hot summer days.

Madison evidently was an avid horse breeder too.

 

That is an absolutely outstanding piece of advice. That is less than an hour to the West of Richmond, and worth the trip.

http://www.montpelier.org/

Actually, since you would be so close to Monticello, you should go ahead and take the extra time to visit Jefferson's home.

http://www.monticello.org/

You would be so close to Richmond, so you might as well stop by and visit the River City. You can experience firsthand just how incredible it really is, and understand why John Marshall loved it here so much.

http://www.apva.org/marshall/

Now, a trip to these locations would not be complete without a trip down to the Historic Triangle (Jamestowne Island, Williamsburg, and Yorktown).

http://www.nps.gov/colo/
http://www.history.org/

Now, that sounds like a vacation to me!!

Hope all of you are doing well,

BiR

 

So BiR, do you work for the Va. Tourism Board?

Thanks much, BTW, for posting the link to Madison's works! My passion is early American history and Constitutional law, and Madison is my favorite of the Founders, so it was great to get a link.

My favorite between the two homes, though, is Monticello. Because of my interest in Madison, I finally went there, but I would love to go back to Monticello sometime.

I hope this finds you well.

 

No, but I would if they asked me!!
I am a member of APVA though.
Seriously, I have only lived in the Commonwealth for just over two years, and I still feel like a tourist.

Yes, indeed. Did you get to go into Charlottesville and see the buildings at the University of Virginia that Jefferson designed?

I love walking along the Duke of Gloucester in Williamsburg. It's amazing to think that you could be standing on or near a spot where Thomas Jefferson and John Marshall may have had a federalist/states rights argument.

The same goes for Jamestowne Island. I wonder if some of those first settlers ever looked out over the James River and thought, I left England for this? [If any of you have not been there, they could not have picked a worse location to settle.]

As a matter of fact, I think I will log out and go there right now.....

May God shower you and your family with His Blessings, FTR,

BiR

 

BiR,

Did you get to go into Charlottesville and see the buildings at the University of Virginia that Jefferson designed?

No. The UVa thing doesn't capture my imagination as much as the Founders themselves that is why the walk in Williamsburg is such pure joy for me because I have imagined similar conversations there. The relationships that most intrigue me are Jefferson/Adams and Jefferson/Madison. I've long had a hard time accepting the mentor/protege' tie of the latter, or at least the to the extent many have argued. Madison differed from Jefferson on so many things:

(1) the necessity of a Bill of Rights,

(2) he tried to tone Jefferson's argument of the 19-year validity of Constitutions down,

(3) Madison's Va. Resolutions were significantly different and more toned down than Jefferson's Kentucky resolutions,

(4) of course, Madison started out as a Federalist and came over to being a Republican, IMO, through very little influence by Jefferson. I think it had more to do with the National Bank high Federalism of Hamilton than his and Jefferson's shared aversion to the Alien and Sedition Acts, though the latter was surely a strong influence.

I guess I've strayed. You're absolutely right about Jamestown's location.

It's still neat to drive through the battlefield at Yorktown. When I'm visiting my friends there, we go through the battlefield to get to the waterfront (actually, it's the only way I know) and it still is a treat. After driving through there several times, I finally took the tour and didn't realize until then that it was also a Civil War battlefield. It's also one of the things that gives me more appreciation for Hamilton who is one of my least favorites. I read Brookhiser's study of him and I suppose I'll get around to reading Chernow's new bio, but Ketcham's Madison bio has remained unread in my book case for far too long.

God bless you, my friend.

FTR