Episode Details

In May 1787, a 36-year-old James Madison arrived in Philadelphia nearly two weeks early, armed with research on ancient confederacies and a plan to replace the failing Articles of Confederation. This episode reconstructs that sweltering, secretive summer and how Madison's preparation shaped the debate that produced the U.S. Constitution.

We trace the crisis behind the convention, from a broke Confederation Congress and cabbage tariffs to Shays' Rebellion, then follow Madison as his Virginia Plan collides with the small states, the Great Compromise, the three-fifths compromise, and the creation of the Electoral College. It is the story of an idealistic theorist forced to become a pragmatic politician.

• Why the Articles of Confederation left the national government unable to tax, pay soldiers, or stop Shays' Rebellion
• How the Virginia Plan proposed three branches and population-based representation in a two-house legislature
• Madison's theory of factions and his argument for an extended republic
• The defeats Madison suffered, including the Senate's equal representation and the rejection of his national veto over state laws
• How slavery compromises shaped the House and the Electoral College, and why Madison kept his convention notes secret until after his death