James Madison and Alexander …show more content…
Madison was a Virginian citizen and delegate, with the “easier path” of the two, he was raised “by a prosperous father, the wealthiest planter in Orange County”. Madison “had found purpose in the Revolution” after going to “the College of New Jersey (now Princeton)”, but “the bookish Virginian was a poor candidate for soldiering” so he moved his purpose to politics. Madison “was not only short and slight---no taller than five feet six inches and a bit over one hundred pounds”, he also suffered from an illness that resembled epilepsy. Madison was a unsocial, quiet, semi-hypocritical, non-narcissistic, sharp, unobtrusive man. Hamilton on the other hand, was “born on the island of Nevis, a flyspeck in the Caribbean”, and didn’t arrive in America until he was fourteen, when a “local businessman sent him to mainland America for formal education, first at a New Jersey academy and then at Kings College, now Columbia University.” Unfortunately for Hamilton his childhood was not a good one, …show more content…
constitution, led by Hamilton and Madison, set the stage for a self-governing America. “No one planned the process that produced America’s Constitution”, but it all started in September of 1780 when “Hamilton was the first to conclude that a new government was needed”, even before the Articles of Confederation took effect and called for congress “to revise the Articles”.Calling upon congress to come together and agree was a difficult and long process. Hamilton was always ready for a national convention, yet Madison “was not ready for that drastic step”, but “after the Mount Vernon conference and a trip to New York and Philadelphia, Madison warmed to the idea of a national convention”. The Articles of Confederation needed to be revised, “the weakness of the national government afflicted everyday life” from not having a uniform currency to voting in congress and the complex almost-non existing tax system. The Philadelphia Convention, better known as the Constitutional Convention, started in May of 1787 in “America’s largest and most sophisticated” city, Philadelphia. “Madison dreamt of a nation bound by ties among its people, not among its states. To achieve that goal, its founding document had to be ratified by the people through special conventions.” For Madison this goal was achievable thanks the unity of his fellow Virginian delegates, but unluckily for Hamilton “the New York delegation was sharply split between Hamilton, who