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<div id='article-page'><div id='article-content' data-media-url='//news-app-staging.s3.amazonaws.com' data-base-url='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/jm.m4a' data-capture-url='//staging.analytics.lingraphica.com/events/capture_news' data-article-title='James Madison, Father of the Constitution' data-article-id='925'><script src='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/javascripts/getscripts.js'></script><link rel='stylesheet' href='//news-app-staging.herokuapp.com/stylesheets/article.css' type='text/css' /><div class='article'><p><span data-start-time='0' data-end-time='8479'>The men who created the U.S. Constitution are often called the country’s “founders” or “framers.” </span> <span data-start-time='8479' data-end-time='14563'>But only one framer is known as the father of the Constitution. </span> <span data-start-time='14563' data-end-time='17438'>He is James Madison.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='17438' data-end-time='22917'>Madison did not have the physical appearance of many politicians. </span> <span data-start-time='22917' data-end-time='30708'>He was a short man with a soft voice who had often been sick as a child and young adult. </span> </p><p><span data-start-time='30708' data-end-time='37604'>He grew up in a wealthy family in Virginia and enjoyed reading and studying. </span> <span data-start-time='37604' data-end-time='42146'>He went to college at the school that later became Princeton. </span> <span data-start-time='42146' data-end-time='47729'>For a while, he did not know what kind of career he wanted.</span> <span data-start-time='47729' data-end-time='61917'>When the Revolutionary War started between the colonists and the British, Madison’s intelligence and knowledge helped him participate in debates about independence and a new American government. </span> <span data-start-time='61917' data-end-time='66729'>He eventually became a member of the Continental Congress.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='66729' data-end-time='77250'>After the Revolutionary War, he urged the Confederation Congress to call for a convention to strengthen the national government.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='77250' data-end-time='82729'>Tom Howard is an educator at Madison’s house in southern Virginia.</span> <span data-start-time='82729' data-end-time='95896'>“James Madison doesn’t enjoy a lot of press, he’s not somehow historically as well-known as other of our founding statesmen, but he’s certainly every bit as important </span> <span data-start-time='95896' data-end-time='100646'>We are not even sure there would be a Constitution had it not been for James Madison.”</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='100646' data-end-time='108688'>Mr. Howard tells how James Madison used his library to prepare for the Constitutional Convention.</span> <span data-start-time='108688' data-end-time='122250'>“He went up there and studied for months, and that’s having just a light breakfast and then studying throughout the entire day before he finally took a break to rest up, to go back at it the next day.”</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='122250' data-end-time='130500'>Madison studied other governments in history and governments operating in the world at the time. </span> <span data-start-time='130500' data-end-time='141125'>He studied the confederacies of Ancient Greece and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Swiss Confederacy. </span> <span data-start-time='141125' data-end-time='150667'>Mr. Howard points out that Madison could read in seven different languages a helpful skill for his work.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='150667' data-end-time='158938'>Madison used what he learned to write a paper called “Ancient and Modern Confederacies.” </span> <span data-start-time='158938' data-end-time='167958'>One of the most important ideas he found was that a weak government could invite problems.</span> <span data-start-time='167958' data-end-time='176500'>Mr. Howard says Madison’s reading informed his thinking about the U.S. Constitution. </span> <span data-start-time='176500' data-end-time='185292'>And, in turn, Madison’s thinking informed the discussion at the Constitutional Convention. </span> <span data-start-time='185292' data-end-time='193708'>His recommendations for a strong central government became the basis for the delegates’ conversation.</span> </p><p><span data-start-time='193708' data-end-time='205875'>“We consider the old library in the Madison house pretty much of a little cradle of our constitutional form of government, because of all of the time he spent.”</span> <span data-start-time='205875' data-end-time='213958'>Only 37 years old, Madison did not have the authority of many of the other delegates. </span> <span data-start-time='213958' data-end-time='217542'>But he was the most prepared.</span> </p></div><div class='control-buttons-sticky' style='display:none;'><div class='control-buttons'><button title='Back' class='back' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Play' class='play' disabled='disabled'></button><button title='Pause' class='pause' style='display:none;'></button><button title='Forward' class='forward' disabled='disabled'></button><button class='finished-reading' style='display:none;'>Done</button></div></div></div><div id='article-media'><div id='media-image'><img src='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/james_image.jpg'/></div></div><div id='question-content' style='display:none;'><div class='vocabulary_question question-container' data-question-id=4349 data-hint-location='193708' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/what_does_cradle_mean.m4a'>What does cradle mean?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='the place where something begins'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/the_place_where_something_begins.m4a'><span>the place where something begins</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/an_important_assistant.m4a'><span>an important assistant</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/a_description_of_what_could_possibly_happen.m4a'><span>a description of what could possibly happen</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/to_make_something_safe_or_secure.m4a'><span>to make something safe or secure</span></div></div></div><div class='multiple_choice_question question-container' data-question-id=4350 data-hint-location='213958' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/what_was_madison_compared_to_the_other_delegates_at_the_convention.m4a'>What was Madison compared to the other delegates at the Convention?</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='most prepared'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/youngest.m4a'><span>youngest</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/smartest.m4a'><span>smartest</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/most_prepared.m4a'><span>most prepared</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/oldest.m4a'><span>oldest</span></div></div></div><div class='sentence_completion_question question-container' data-question-id=4351 data-hint-location='8479' style='display:none;'><div class='question' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/james_madison_is_known_as_the__blank__of_the_constitution.m4a'>James Madison is known as the <span class='blank'>father</span> of the Constitution.</div><div class='choices' data-correct-choice='father'><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/owner.m4a'><span>owner</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/interpreter.m4a'><span>interpreter</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/writer.m4a'><span>writer</span></div><div class='choice' data-sound-name='https://news-app-production.s3.amazonaws.com/articles/578/father.m4a'><span>father</span></div></div></div><div class='question-buttons'><button class='skip-button'></button><button class='hint-button'></button><button class='speak-button'></button></div></div></div>
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