The author would like to thank the Earhart Foundation, the American Political Science Association Small Grants Program, and the International Center for Jefferson Studies for their support of my research for this article and the John Carter Brown Library, the Huntington Library, and the American Antiquarian Society for their support of the broader project for which it is a part. I would also like to thank Garry Wills and Gordon Wood for first bringing this topic to my attention and for their keen insights into it and Michele Shover, Bob Ross, Lowell Harrison, Lance Banning, J. C. A. Stagg, and Peter Onuf for their helpful comments on this manuscript.

1. Madison's understanding of public opinion is examined briefly in interpretations of his political thought and in studies that analyze the democratization of American political culture. See Banning, Lance, The Sacred Fire of Liberty (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996), pp. 347–65Google Scholar; Buel, Richard, Securing the Revolution: Ideology in American Politics, 1789–1815 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972), pp. 91–135Google Scholar; Elkins, Stanley and McKitrick, Eric. The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 263–70, 282–92, 451–61Google Scholar; Lienesch, Michael, “Thomas Jefferson and the American Democratic Experience: The Origins of the Partisan Press, Popular Political Parties, and Public Opinion” in Jeffersonian Legacies, ed. Onuf, Peter (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993), pp. 316–39Google Scholar; McCoy, Drew, The Last of the Fathers: James Madison & The Republican Legacy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1989), pp. 47–64Google Scholar; Onuf, Peter, “The Scholars’ Jefferson,” The William and Mary Quarterly 50 (2000): 80–108Google Scholar; Read, James, Power versus Liberty: Madison, Hamilton, Wilson, and Jefferson (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000), pp. 33–35, 47–51Google Scholar; Rosen, Gary, American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1999), pp. 137–41Google Scholar; Shalhope, Robert, The Roots of Democracy: American Thought and Culture, 1760–1800 (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1990), pp. 139–65Google Scholar; Wills, Garry, Explaining America: The Federalist (New York: Penguin Books, 1981,2001), pp. 24–33Google Scholar; Wood, Gordon S., “The Democratization of the Mind in the American Revolution” in The Moral Foundations of the American Republic, ed. Horwitz, Robert (1986), pp. 109–35.Google Scholar

2. Wood, Gordon S., The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1969, 1998), pp. 471–564Google Scholar. Quote is from p. 513. For other variations of the antidemocratic interpretation of the original design and Madison's intentions see Beard, Charles, An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1913, 1960), pp. 152–88, pp.159–62Google Scholar; Matthews, Richard, If Men Were Angels: James Madison & the Heartless Empire of Reason (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1995), pp. 24–25Google Scholar; Miller, Joshua, “The Ghostly Body Politic: The Federalist Papers and Popular Sovereignty,” Political Theory 16 (1988): 99–119CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nedelsky, Jennifer, Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism: The Madisonian Framework and Its Legacy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990)Google Scholar; Parenti, Michael, Democracy For the Few (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002), pp. 42–54.Google Scholar

3. In addition to Diamond and Banning see for example Carey, George, “Separation of Powers and the Madisonian Model: A Reply to the Critics,” American Political Science Review 72 (1978): 151–64CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ketcham, Ralph, “Publius: Sustaining the Republican Principle,” The William and Mary Quarterly 44 (1987): 576–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. Diamond, Martin, The Founding of the Democratic Republic (Itasca, IL: F. E. Peacock Publishers, 1981), pp. 7–12, 61–107Google Scholar. Quote is from p. 8. See also Diamond, , “Democracy and The Federalist: A Reconstruction of the Framers’ Intent,” American Political Science Review 8 (1959): 52–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Banning, , Sacred Fire of Liberty, especially pp. 9–10, 371–73Google Scholar. Quote is from p. 9.

6. Sheehan, Colleen, “The Politics of Public Opinion: James Madison's Notes on Government,” The William and Mary Quarterly 49 (1992): 609–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Quotation is from p. 611; Sheehan, Colleen, “Madison and the French Enlightenment: The Authority of Public Opinion,” The William and Mary Quarterly 59 (2002): 925–56CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sheehan, , “Madison V. Hamilton: The Battle Over Republicanism and the Role of Public Opinion,” American Political Science Review 98 (2004): 405–24CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Sheehan builds upon arguments made by Charles Kesler, William Kristol, William B. Allen, and Thomas West that the American Founders sought novel means (especially the use of prudential statesmanship and separation of powers) to achieve the classical republican goal of promoting a common character or political religion among the citizenry. See the essays by these scholars in Saving the Revolution: The Federalist Papers and the American Founding, ed. Kessler, Charles (New York: The Free Press, 1987).Google Scholar

7. Sheehan, , “The Politics of Public Opinion,” p. 611.Google Scholar

8. Sheehan, , “Madison and the French Enlightenment,” p. 933.Google Scholar Emphasis added.

9. “House Address to the President” 27 11 1794, The Papers of James Madison, ed. Hutchinson, William T. et al. (Volumes 1–10, Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Volumes 11–17, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1962-), 15:391Google Scholar. Hereafter cited as PJM.

10. For the relationship between character and reputation see Elkins, and McKitrick, , The Age of Federalism, p. 37Google Scholar. For fame see Adair, Douglass, Fame and the Founding Fathers: Essays by Douglass Adair (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1974), pp. 3–26.Google Scholar

11. Hume, David, Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary, ed. Miller, Eugene (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1985), pp. 42–43.Google Scholar

12. Hamilton, Alexander, Madison, James, and Jay, John, The Federalist, ed. Cooke, Jacob. (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1961), No. 49, p. 340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13. Madison, , “Vices of the Political System of the United States,” PJM, 9:356.Google Scholar

14. Ibid., pp. 355–56.

15. The Federalist, No. 55, p. 374.Google Scholar

16. Madison, , “Vices,” PJM, 9:356.Google Scholar

17. McCoy, Drew, The Last of the Fathers, p. 49Google Scholar. See also Sinopoli, Richard, The Foundations Of American Citizenship: Liberalism, The Constitution, and Civic Virtue (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp. 101–27.Google Scholar

18. The Federalist, No. 49, p. 340.Google Scholar

19. The Federalist, No. 57, pp. 386–87.Google Scholar

20. The Federalist, No. 10, p. 62.Google Scholar

21. The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States, ed. Gales, Joseph (Washington D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1834–1836), 1:605.Google Scholar

22. The Federalist, No. 10, p. 60.Google Scholar

23. Madison, James to Jefferson, Thomas, 24 10 1787, PJM, 10:214. Emphasis added.Google Scholar

24. The Federalist, No. 49, p. 340.Google Scholar

25. The Federalist, No. 48. p. 333.Google Scholar

26. The most important commentators to emphasize this point are Edward S. Corwin, “The Progress of Constitutional Theory between the Declaration of Independence and the Meeting of the Philadelphia Convention,” American Historical Review 30 (1924–1925): 511–36;Google ScholarWood, , The Creation of the American Republic, pp. 393–429, 463–67;Google ScholarRakove, Jack, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996), pp. 39–42, 44–54;Google Scholar and the editors of the Madison Papers at PJM, 9:346–47.Google Scholar

27. The Federalist, No. 37, pp. 233–34.Google Scholar

28. Banning, , Sacred Fire, p. 252, pp. 371–72Google Scholar. See also The Federalist, No. 63, p. 425.Google Scholar

29. Banning, Lance, “The Hamiltonian Madison: A Reconsideration,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 92 (1984): 14–16Google Scholar; see also The Federalist, Nos. 14 and 51, pp. 83 and 353Google Scholar; and Madison to Jefferson, 24 10 1787, PJM, 10:214.Google Scholar

30. Yarbrough, Jean, “Republicanism Reconsidered: Some Thoughts on the Foundation and Preservation of the American Republic,” The Review of Politics 41 (1979): 86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

31. See for example Madison, to Lee, Henry, 21 01 1792, PJM, 14:193–94Google Scholar; Madison, to Pendleton, Edmund, 6 12, 1792, PJM, p. 420.Google Scholar

32. Banning, , Sacred Fire, p. 112.Google Scholar

33. See particularly Sheehan, Colleen, “Madison's Party Press Essays,” Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy 17 (1990): 355–77Google Scholar; Banning, , Sacred Fire, pp. 348–65.Google Scholar

34. “Term of the First Branch of the Legislature,” Speech of 12 06 1787, PJM, 10:49Google Scholar; “Amendments to the Constitution,” Speech of 15 08 1789, PJM, 12:340–41.Google Scholar

35. “Amendments to the Constitution,” 15 08 1789, PJM, 12:341.Google Scholar

36. “Public Opinion,” PJM, 14:170.Google Scholar

37. “Charters,” PJM, 14:192.Google Scholar

38. “Who Are the Best Keepers of the People's Liberties?,” PJM, 14:426.Google Scholar

39. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 17 10 1788, PJM, 11:299.Google Scholar

40. “Charters,” PJM, 14:192.Google Scholar

41. The Federalist, No. 10, p. 61Google Scholar; The Federalist, No. 63, p. 425.Google Scholar

42. “Public Opinion,” PJM, 14:170.Google Scholar

43. “Charters,” PJM, 14:192.Google Scholar

44. Dahl, Robert, A Preface to Democratic Theory (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1956), pp. 29–30Google Scholar; Wills, . Explaining America, p. 220.Google Scholar

45. The Federalist, No. 44, p. 305Google Scholar; The Federalist, No. 46, p. 320.Google Scholar

46. The Federalist, No. 63, pp. 425–26.Google Scholar

47. “Consolidation,” PJM, 14:138–39.Google Scholar

48. “A Candid State of Parties,” PJM, 14:372.Google Scholar

49. “Consolidation,” PJM, 14:138–39.Google Scholar

50. “A Candid State of Parties,” PJM, 14:372.Google Scholar

51. “Notes on the Influence of Extent of Territory on Government,” PJM, 14:132–33;Google Scholar “Consolidation,” Ibid., 14:137–39; “Notes for the National Gazette Essays,” Ibid., pp. 157- 62; “Government,” Ibid., pp. 178–79; “British Government,” Ibid., pp. 201–202.

52. “Charters,” PJM, 14:192.Google Scholar

53. “British Government,” PJM, 14:201–202.Google Scholar

54. “Public Opinion/ PJM, 14:170;Google Scholar“Notes on the Influence of Extent of Territory on Government,” PJM, pp. 132–33.Google Scholar

55. De Montesquieu, Baron, The Spirit of the Laws, trans, and ed. Cohler, Anne M., Miller, Basia Carolyn, and Stone, Harold Samuel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 124–28.Google Scholar

56. “Notes For the National Gazette Essays,” PJM, 14:159.Google Scholar

57. “Consolidation,” PJM, 14:138–39.Google Scholar

58. “Public Opinion,” PJM, 14:170.Google ScholarMadison's emphasis. Madison had alluded to these factors in The Federalist, No. 14, pp. 86–87.Google Scholar

59. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 27 08, 1793, PJM, 15:75.Google Scholar

60. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 13 06 1793, PJM, 15:29;Google Scholar Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 2 March 1794, ibid., p. 269.

61. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 28 07 1793, PJM, 15:47.Google Scholar

62. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 30 07 1793, PJM, 15:49.Google Scholar

63. Onuf, , “The Scholars' Jefferson,” p. 695.Google Scholar

64. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 24 10 1787, PJM, 10:214.Google Scholar

65. Madison, to Rush, Benjamin, 1 10 1792, PJM, 14:373.Google Scholar

66. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 2 09, 1793, PJM, 15:93.Google Scholar

67. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 2 09, 1793, PJM, 15:92Google Scholar; “Political Observations,” PJM, 15:522.Google Scholar

68. Madison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 14 01 1795, PJM, 16: 20;Google Scholar“Political Observations,” PJM, 15:522.Google Scholar

69. “Madison's ‘Detached Memoranda.’” Fleet, Elizabeth ed. The William and Mary Quarterly 3 (1946), pp. 534–68;CrossRefGoogle ScholarLeibiger, Stuart, Founding Friendship: George Washington, James Madison, and the Creation of the American Republic (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. 1999), pp. 169–222.Google Scholar

70. “Notes for the National Gazette Essays,” PJM, 14:160–61.Google Scholar

71. Madison to Jefferson, Thomas, 13 05 1798, PJM, 17:130–31;Google Scholar“Political Reflections,” 23 02 1799, PJM, 17:240–42.Google Scholar

72. “Foreign Influence,” PJM, 17:219.Google Scholar“Foreign Influence” and “Political Reflections” are at PJM, 17:214–20 and 237–43 respectively.Google Scholar

73. “Foreign Influence,” PJM, 17:218.Google Scholar

74. This theme resonates throughout both “Foreign Influence” and “Political Reflections.” For a brilliant commentary on the Jeffersonians' belief that public opinion was being corrupted by British influence see Onuf, Peter, Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 2000), pp. 88–93.Google Scholar

75. The Federalist, No. 49, p. 340;Google ScholarRakove, Jack, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996), p. 347.Google Scholar

76. See the editors note at PJM, 14:56–57 and Madison, to Jones, Joseph, 23 08 1791;Google ScholarMadison, to Page, Mann Jr 23 08, 1791;Google ScholarMadison, to Simms, Charles, 23 08 1791, PJM, 14:71–73.Google Scholar

77. “Low Postage For Newspapers,” PJM, 14:186.Google Scholar

78. See the editorial note “Resolutions on Franco-American Relations,” PJM, 15:76–80;Google ScholarMadison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 27 08 1793, PJM, 15:75;Google ScholarMadison, to Jefferson, Thomas, 2 09 1793, PJM, 15:92–93.Google Scholar

79. See the editorial note “Madison in the Third Congress, 2 December 1793–3 03 1795,” PJM, 15:155–56.Google Scholar

80. Taylor, John to Madison, , 11 05 1793, PJM, 15:14;Google Scholar See also editorial note “Madison's ‘Helvidius’ Essays 24 August - 18 09 1793,” PJM, 15:65.Google Scholar

81. Elkins, and McKitrick, , Age of Federalism, p. 721Google Scholar See also Koch, Adrienne and Ammon, Harry, “The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions: An Episode in Jefferson's and Madison's Defense of Civil Liberties,” William and Mary Quarterly 5 (1948): 145–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

82. Elkins, and McKitrick, . Age of Federalism, p. 723 and 726.Google Scholar

83. The degree to which the common law doctrine of seditious libel was accepted in the early American republic, the question of how progressive the Federalists were, and the role of Madison and Jeffersonians in the development of a libertarian conception of freedom of the press and their faithfulness to that conception remain highly contested topics. For an excellent recent discussion of the scholarship on this subject see Martin, Robert W. T., The Free and Open Press: The Founding of American Democratic Press Liberty, 1640–1800 (New York: New York University Press, 2001), pp. 5–10.Google Scholar

84. “The Report of 1800,” PJM, 17:327.Google Scholar

85. Ibid., p. 332 and 336.

86. Ibid., p. 336.

87. Ibid., p. 343.

88. Ibid., p. 337, p. 342.

89. Ibid., p. 339.

90. Ibid., pp. 341–42.

91. The Mind of the Founder: Sources of the Political Thought of James Madison, ed. Meyers, Marvin (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1973), p. 408.Google Scholar

92. Dahl, Robert, How Democratic Is the American Constitution? (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), pp.15–20.Google Scholar In addition to the works cited in notes 2 and 3, the contours of this debate and the assumptions underlying the opposing interpretations are evident in the essays in Goldwin, Robert A. and Schambra, William A. eds., How Democratic Is the Constitution. (AEI Press: Washington D.C., 1980).Google Scholar

93. The Federalist, No. 10, p. 58.Google Scholar

94. “House Address to the President,” 27 11 1794, PJM, 14:391.Google Scholar

95. Olson, Mancur, The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973), p. 45, pp. 62–63.Google Scholar

96. “Public Opinion,” PJM, 14:170. My emphasis.Google Scholar

97. Hume, , “On the First Principles of Government,” Essays, p. 32.Google Scholar

98. Onuf, , Jefferson's Empire, p. 13.Google Scholar