This lecture will examine the thought and career of one of America's most important Founding Fathers. As a young man at the outset of the Revolution, James Madison entered public life, and he made important contributions for another sixty years. Although much about Madison's life is familiar––his role as "Father of the Constitution" and a friend of Jefferson--there is much new to learn as well––his post-retirement opinions on Constitutional interpretation, the misuse of the "general welfare" clause, and much more. Starting with his early intellectual development at Princeton, the lecture will trace his Revolutionary career, his political career as Secretary of State and President, and his active role in the nineteenth century as the last surviving Founding Father.