Page One of James Madison's original notes on the 1787 Constitutional Convention: The overlying slip of paper was found pasted to it. (Manuscript: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, James Madison Papers.)
James Madison’s Notes on the 1787 Constitutional Convention have long been considered the authoritative source on the deliberations that led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution. But now, a law professor's research calls into question the reliability of the account that has played a significant role in shaping the early narrative of the nation.
In "an unprecedented investigation that draws on digital technologies and traditional textual analysis to trace Madison’s composition," Mary Sarah Bilder reveals that James Madison revised the Notes to a far greater extent than previously recognized. The results of her investigation are detailed in her book Madison's Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention, which this year won the Bancroft Prize, one of the most prestigious honors in the field of American history.
Bilder—who has been the Michael and Helen Lee Distinguished Scholar at BC Law and is now the Founders Professor of Law in recognition of her teaching and scholarship—joins such eminent historians as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., George F. Kennan, Daniel J. Boorstin, Samuel Eliot Morison, Jill Lepore, Drew Gilpin Faust, and James T. Patterson who have been awarded the Bancroft Prize, presented each year since 1948 by the trustees of Columbia University to honor books about diplomacy or the history of the Americas.
In Madison’s Hand, Bilder shows how Madison revised his Notes on the Constitutional Convention—which took place in Philadelphia from May to September of 1787—decades later, in the years prior to his death in 1836, four years before their publication. Madison’s writings have long been viewed as providing an important insight into the making of the U.S. Constitution, and an impartial chronicle of events. Bilder’s analysis, however, indicates that Madison made significant changes to the notes, some for the sake of clarity, accuracy or greater detail on the proceedings, but others that show a concern for his political position and public image—such as reshaping perceptions on his support for slavery.
The experience of poring through Madison’s papers has given her a “complicated” but more expansive view of Madison, said Bilder, who was invited to discuss her research at the Library of Congress and National Archives.
“In the past, for me Madison was a statue, a painting,” she said. “Now I see him more as a person, one with a lot of flaws—I find him more accountable on the issue of slavery—but also a lot of characteristics that served him well in the task of founding a country.
“Additionally, this project gave me a deeper understanding of the struggles on the part of Madison and others in the ‘Framing Generation’ to create a workable political system.”
"It will be impossible to view Madison’s role at the convention and read his Notes in the same uncomplicated way again…An accessible and brilliant rethinking of a crucial moment in American history.”—Robert K. Landers, The Wall Street Journal
Americans have typically regarded aspects of their political and legal history—particularly where the Founding Fathers are concerned—as constant and unchanging, said Bilder. But as the revelations in Madison’s Hand make clear, the reality is different, if perhaps difficult to accept.
“It’s like the moment you realize your parents are just people like everyone else,” she said. “Acknowledging that the framers of the constitution didn’t have all the answers means we need to take responsibility for addressing difficult constitutional issues; the system won’t work without our participation.
“Madison and others in the Framing Generation thought the governing process was important and interesting, not a wind-up toy that ran on its own with minimal attention. Fortunately, I’m finding young people are increasingly interested in the framers’ era, so hopefully that augurs well for our future.”
Madison’s Hand has been widely praised by constitutional experts and legal historians, and also was named a George Washington Prize finalist. (Watch Mary Sarah Bilder discuss her work on C-SPAN.)
To learn more, read a Q&A with Bilder in Boston College Law School Magazine and her essay 'Madison's Edits' in Boston College Magazine.
Madison's Hand also won the 2016 James C. Bradford Prize for Biography from the Society for Historians of the Early Republic.
—News & Public Affairs