A biography of James Madison, fourth president of the United States, who was elected in 1809. Ketchman provides an analysis of his political theory and of the way in which he sought to apply it to the establishment of constitutional government. The best one volume biography of Madison?s life, Ketcham?s biography not only traces Madison?s career, it gives readers a sense of the man. As Madison said of his early years in Virginia under the study of Donald Robertson, who introduced him to thinkers like Montaigne and Montesquieu, "all that I have been in life I owe largely to that man." It also captures a side of Madison that is less rarely on display (including a portrait of the beautiful Dolley Madison).