By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but…I would suggest that all American politicians should be required to read Chris DeRose’s book FOUNDING RIVALS. It is the story of two friends who politically opposed each other throughout their lives.
James Madison was the primary author of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. James Monroe opposed the results of the Constitutional Convention and supported the Articles of Confederation that was replaced by the Constitution.
Monroe was a strong supporter of The Bill of Rights. Even though Madison proposed twelve amendments, ten of which became the Bill of Rights, he was at best lukewarm to the idea.
While these two men came down on opposite sides of political issues all their lives, they remained friends. In fact, when Monroe and Madison vied for the same political office they roomed and travelled together as they debated throughout the state of Virginia.
Madison won each election and after defeating Monroe in his bid for the presidency, he appointed Monroe as his Secretary of State.
At the beginning of the ratifying convention in Virginia, Edmund Pendleton, who was elected chairman of the convention, set the ground rules for the debate: “We are met together on this solemn occasion as trustees for a great people…to deliberate and decide upon a plan proposed for the government of the United States…The trust is sacred and important, and requires our most serious attention. Let us calmly reason with each other, as friends, having all the same end in view, the real happiness of our constituents, avoiding all heats, intemperance and personal altercations, which always impede, but never assist fair investigation. Let us probe the plan to the bottom, but let us do it with candor, temper, and mutual forbearance: and finally decide as our judgement shall direct.”
This is good advice for all Americans and especially our politicians. One may disagree with you without being a scoundrel. I have many friends who disagree with me, but we are still friends. I just don’t agree with them on some issues. I enjoy telling them: “I could agree with you but then we would both be wrong.”
I remember my son, who is a Bernie fan, once saying: “Dad, I love you too much to accept the fact that you really believe what you just said.”
I have learned in my lifetime that those who agree with you are not necessarily your friend and those who disagree with you are not always your enemy.
While throughout the history of America there has been less that civil presidential campaigns, until recently the candidates themselves have refrained from the name calling that characterizes modern day presidential elections. In the last few years the debates between presidential candidates have become personal attacks rather than policy discussion, and it needs to stop.
No one asked me but…While the Bill of Rights has become almost sacred in the minds of most Americans there was a major battle to get them added to the Constitution. The Anti-Federalists would not accept the Constitution without them and threatened to call a second Constitutional Convention which the Federalists feared would result in a third revolution in the first twelve years of the existence of the country.
James Madison, though his party basically opposed the amending of the Constitution, wrote and championed twelve Amendments. Ten were passed as the Bill of Rights.
The only one that was never passed was the one that would have allowed for one member of the House of Representatives for every thirty-thousand residents of a state. Had that passed today the House of Representatives would number over one-thousand members instead of 435.
The other amendment proposed by Madison was not passed until 1992. Yes! 1992. Because a college student, as a project for his political science class, suggested the ratification of the 27th Amendment that deals with congressional pay increases. While he received a C in his political science class he championed the cause and 202 years after Madison first proposed it, it became a part of the Constitution.
No one asked me but…James Monroe became the third American president, who had been involved in the Revolution and development of the America government to die on the Fourth of July. Monroe died on the Fourth of July 1831, the 55th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Five years earlier his mentor and friend Thomas Jefferson died on the Fourth of July. Some historians claim Jefferson’s last words were “Is this the Fourth of July?”
Interestingly enough, Jefferson’s friend and political rival John Adams died on the same day, his last words were recorded as “Thomas Jefferson survives.” He was not aware of the fact that Jefferson had preceded him in death by a few hours.
What about James Madison? He was always the smallest, at five feet, four inches tall, and the sickliest of the bunch. Madison lived to the ripe old age of 84 dying on June 28, 1836. Some indicate there was an effort to keep him alive until July Fourth but he refused medical attention that may have extended his life to that date.
With the death of his friend Monroe, Madison sent letters of condolences to a number of Monroe’s close friends. One of those was Alexander Hamilton Jr. the son of Alexander Hamilton who was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. The younger Hamilton had served as a Captain in the War of 1812 and like his father was a lawyer in New York.
A fact I found interesting, as a history major, was that Alexander Hamilton, Jr. represented Eliza Jumel in her divorce suit against Aaron Burr.
Thought of the week… “A conversation in which the two parties have different beliefs should never begin with the intention of converting the other party to your own beliefs. Every worthwhile conversation’s goal should be to understand the other person’s opinions and help them understand your own.”
― Emily Eskowich
