Madison’s Opponents and Constitutional Design
5
None of the new state republics produced fully acceptable results (Wood 1969: 433; Kruman 1997: 123-
126). Nothing in republican theory per se specified the precise distribution of powers and selection of
policy-makers in the final Constitution.
Historian Jack Rakove recognizes that “what is elusive is the interplay between ideas and
interests” (1996: 15). Rakove, political scientist Calvin Jillson (1988), and other authors argue that the
delegates veered back and forth, clashing over ideas at some points and over interests at others. It is
impossible, though, to penetrate the thinking of any delegate and distinguish the way each weighed
principle against interest as he constructed his position on any design issue. The high-minded defense of
national authority may have masked a delegate’s driving ambition for national office and power (most of
the signers went on to hold elected or appointed offices in the new government). On the other hand, an
individual’s defense of state prerogatives may reflect a mix of not only parochialism but also pragmatism,
sincere loyalty to the principle of constituent representation, and a deeply held belief in the superiority of
the social, economic and political order in any given state. By expanding the concept of interest beyond
personal pecuniary gain and selfish parochialism, to include the representation of any state’s autonomy
and economic interests, it is much easier to see how ideas and interests aligned with one another.
The philosophical principles evoked in Convention debates virtually always were in close
harmony with each delegate’s constituent interests and his reconciliation of those interests with those of
the nation. Political calculations, conceived broadly in this way, shaped delegates’ views of the stakes in
most of these design choices. Political calculations and negotiations, rather than isolated philosophical
syllogisms, settled the disputes these choices engendered. James Madison’s skillful effort to structure the
Convention agenda set these political considerations in motion.
James Madison’s Agenda for Constitutional Design
The delegates’ anxiety about the nation’s future, combined with the hazy status of specific
solutions, opened a window of political opportunity for James Madison. He prepared for the Convention
more thoroughly than any other delegate (PJM 9: 317-22, 345-58, 368-71, 382-7; Banning 1995; Rakove
Convention