How do you solve a problem like James Madison? The “Father of the Constitution”, ‘Architect of the Bill of Rights’, Secretary of State for 8 years, and the fourth president is one of the most confounding figures in early American history; his political trajectory seems almost intentionally inconsistent. He was both for and against a strong federal government. He wrote about the dangers of political parties in the Federalist Papers and then helped to found the Republican Party just a few years later.  How can we understand his decades as an enslaver of over 100 men and women on his plantation in Virginia?  How did his time growing up in the Colony of Virginia; at boarding school, at college; in Williamsburg, Philadelphia, Richmond, New York City, and Washington D.C. play into his legacy?  How did he influence the Judiciary?  How important was Madison’s “Virginia Plan” to the formation of the Constitution?  How did his relationships with Dolley Payne Todd Madison, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington influence Madison and our founding era?  There’s a strong argument that James Madison has more impact on the U.S. Constitution than any person in history, and once we untangle the puzzles of his career, his influence becomes all the more clear. In Madison, we see a vision not only of how republican government was to function, but how it did, for generations after his death.  This Educator Seminar led by Jay Cost will help teachers consider James Madison and how his legacy still impacts us today. 

Jay Cost is the Gerald R. Ford nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he focuses on elections, politics, and public opinion. He is also a visiting scholar at Grove City College and a contributing editor at the Washington Examiner.  Dr. Cost currently teaches high school at a small school outside of Pittsburgh, Pa, where he lives with his wife and two children.

Dr. Cost’s interests are broadly focused on civic republicanism in the United States, with emphases on the political theory of James Madison, the problem of political corruption, the role of political parties, the development of civic institutions over time, and the power and responsibility of Congress. He writes and speaks frequently on American elections, with a special attention on placing contemporary trends in historical context.

His books include “James Madison: America's First Politician” (Basic Books, 2021); “The Price of Greatness: James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the Creation of American Oligarchy”(Basic Books, June 2018); and “A Republic No More: Big Government and the Rise of Political Corruption”(Encounter Books, 2015). His next book, Democracy or Republic: The People Under the Constitution, is due to be released by AEI Press later this year. 

Dr. Cost has a PhD and an MA in political science from the University of Chicago and a BA in government and history from the University of Virginia.

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