Madison’s Conception of Liberty

Abstract

The culmination of the republican tradition, and source of its modern popularity, lies in the United States Constitution, which declared a commitment to “the blessings of liberty”¹ and “republican form of government”² in a structure that closely followed the Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York constitutions. The Constitution realized Adams’ prescription for the government of law in a mixed republic. But “Publius” presented its most comprehensive contemporary exposition in a series of letters to New York newspapers written during the ratification debates of 1787–8.³ The authors of these “Federalist” letters, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, had all been leading figures in the movement for a new American republic, but Madison was particularly influential as a member of the United States Constitutional Convention.⁴