# James Madison's Sagacious, Powerful & Combining Mind

Robert Goldwin discusses the extraordinary intellect of James Madison at this symposium celebrating the 250th anniversary of Madison's birth. The story of Madison's leading role in the Constitutional Convention is well known, but the speaker tells the less well-known story of his exploits on behalf of the Constitution subsequent to the Constitutional Convention. Madison was the consummate constitution-maker, outstanding primarily because of his extraordinary combination of theoretical powers and practical political skills. His ability to combine the philosophical and practical aspects of constitution-making and to join seemingly opposing tendencies into a coherent whole, is what made him ultimately so successful, unsurpassed by any of the hundreds of constitution-makers in other nations who have followed in his path in the centuries since. But his unusual powers of analysis did not necessarily smooth the way for him. He often saw problems that he felt compelled to consider but that his fellow politicians could not see. They therefore could not agree with his efforts to resolve what they considered phantom issues.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2001
- By: Library Of Congress. Manuscript Division
- Genres: History
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688074/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021688074?play=1)