Jefferson, Madison, and the Making of the Constitution

Jeff Broadwater

Jun 2019 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Joe Barrett

About this audiobook

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," were two of the most important Founders of the United States as well as the closest of political allies. Yet historians have often seen a tension between the idealistic rhetoric of the Declaration and the more pedestrian language of the Constitution. Moreover, to some, the adoption of the Constitution represented a repudiation of the democratic values of the Revolution. In this book, Jeff Broadwater explores the evolution of the constitutional thought of these two seminal American figures, from the beginning of the American Revolution through the adoption of the Bill of Rights. In explaining how the two political compatriots could have produced such seemingly dissimilar documents but then come to a common constitutional ground, Broadwater reveals how their collaboration-and their disagreements-influenced the full range of constitutional questions during this early period of the American republic.

About the author

Jeff Broadwater is a professor of history in the School of Humanities at Barton College. He is the author of several books, including George Mason: Forgotten Founder, which won the Richard Slatten Award for Excellence in Virginia Biography from the Virginia Historical Society.

Joe Barrett has been a working stage, screen, and recording booth actor since 1974 and an award-winning and eight-time Audie Award-nominated audiobook narrator since 1999. He also practiced law for five years-but don't hold that against him. Joe is married to actress Andrea Wright, and together they have four children.