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12 Axes Test
Portrait of James Madison

Fourth US president

James Madison’s political views

Principal drafter of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the fourth president, who argued that dividing and balancing power protects liberty.

Presidency
4th, 1809–1817
Party
Democratic-Republican
Lived
1751–1836
Scored on
9 of 12 axes

Strongest documented leanings

  1. Irreligious85%
  2. Freedom80%
  3. Democratic78%
Where Madison stood on the twelve axes
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Where Madison stood on the twelve axes

Each bar is one axis, between its two poles. Only axes with a documented position are scored; the others are shown as faint stubs on the icon and listed below, never as neutral.

Based on the Federalist Papers and his Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments.

  • Federal vs UnitaryFederal 55%
    FederalUnitary

    Federalist No. 39 calls the new government neither wholly federal nor wholly national.

  • Democratic vs AutocraticDemocratic 78%
    DemocraticAutocratic

    Federalist Nos. 10 and 51 defend a representative republic with separated powers, so that ambition checks ambition.

  • Security vs FreedomFreedom 80%
    SecurityFreedom

    Drafted the Bill of Rights, and his 1800 Virginia Report condemned the Sedition Act.

  • Militarist vs PacifistPacifist 70%
    MilitaristPacifist

    Wrote in 1795 that of all the enemies to public liberty war is perhaps the most to be dreaded.

  • Assimilationist vs MulticulturalistAssimilationist 70%
    AssimilationistMulticulturalist

    Served as president of the American Colonization Society, which resettled freed slaves in Liberia, seeing it as a gradual way to end slavery.

  • Collectivize vs PrivatizePrivatize 72%
    CollectivizePrivatize

    Federalist No. 10 calls the protection of men’s unequal faculties for acquiring property the first object of government.

  • Isolationism vs GlobalismIsolationism 60%
    IsolationismGlobalism

    As president he signed the protective Tariff of 1816.

  • Irreligious vs ReligiousIrreligious 85%
    IrreligiousReligious

    The Memorial and Remonstrance of 1785 opposes any state support for religion.

  • Progressive vs TraditionalProgressive 70%
    ProgressiveTraditional

    Federalist No. 14 says Americans should not let a blind veneration for antiquity and custom overrule their own good sense.

No documented position, so not scored: Nationalism vs Internationalism, Planned vs Laissez-faire, and Acceleration vs Bioconservative.

What shaped the scores

Dated actions from the record. Each is tied to the axis it informs.

  1. His Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments opposes Virginia’s plan to fund teachers of the Christian religion.

    Irreligious vs Religious

    Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments · National Archives

  2. Federalist No. 10 argues that a large republic can control the dangers of faction.

    Collectivize vs Privatize

    Federalist No. 10 · The Avalon Project

  3. He introduces the amendments that become the Bill of Rights in the House of Representatives.

    Security vs Freedom

    James Madison · Wikipedia

  4. He writes the Virginia Report of 1800, which defends Virginia’s resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts.

    Security vs Freedom

    Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions · Wikipedia

  5. As president he asks Congress for a declaration of war on Britain.

    Militarist vs Pacifist

    Presidency of James Madison · Wikipedia

  6. In one of his last acts as president he vetoes the Bonus Bill, arguing that the General Welfare Clause does not broadly authorise federal spending on internal improvements.

    Federal vs Unitary

    Presidency of James Madison · Wikipedia

Madison compared with other presidents

Measured on the axes both presidents are scored on, with the same rules as the quiz.

Most like

Least like

Questions about James Madison’s politics

Principal drafter of the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the fourth president, who argued that dividing and balancing power protects liberty. On our twelve axes, the strongest documented leanings are Irreligious 85%, Freedom 80%, Democratic 78%.

Those labels changed meaning over time, so this site describes Madison on twelve axes instead. On the economy, Madison’s record leans toward free markets and private provision. On social questions it leans progressive. The scores above give the evidence behind each axis.

James Madison was a Democratic-Republican. Madison was the 4th president, serving 1809–1817.

On the axes they are both scored on, Madison is closest to Thomas Jefferson, Jimmy Carter, Grover Cleveland and furthest from John Adams, James K. Polk, Woodrow Wilson.

He drafted it and introduced it in the House in June 1789. Congress approved twelve amendments, and the states ratified ten of them in 1791.

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Sources and credits

Main source: Federalist No. 10 · The Avalon Project

Also read

Portrait: John Vanderlyn, 1816 · Public domain

Scores are editorial estimates from the public record, not measurements. A place on this site is not praise.

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