Talk:James Madison

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the James Madison article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: 3 months

James Madison is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on March 4, 2025.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
May 29, 2007	Good article nominee	Not listed
January 4, 2022	Good article nominee	Listed
January 4, 2023	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
May 17, 2023	Featured article candidate	Promoted
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on June 28, 2020.
Current status: Featured article

Biography: Politics and Government

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
	This article is supported by the politics and government work group (assessed as High-importance).

Virginia: University of Virginia Top‑importance

	Virginia portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Virginia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of Virginia on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.VirginiaWikipedia:WikiProject VirginiaTemplate:WikiProject VirginiaVirginia
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by WikiProject University of Virginia (assessed as High-importance).

U.S. Congress High‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject U.S. Congress, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the United States Congress on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.U.S. CongressWikipedia:WikiProject U.S. CongressTemplate:WikiProject U.S. CongressU.S. Congress
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is about one (or many) Person(s).

Human rights High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Human rights, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Human rights on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Human rightsWikipedia:WikiProject Human rightsTemplate:WikiProject Human rightsHuman rights
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

United States: District of Columbia / Presidents / State Legislatures / Government Mid‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Washington, D.C. portal This article is supported by WikiProject District of Columbia (assessed as Mid-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject United States Presidents (assessed as Top-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. State Legislatures (assessed as Low-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject U.S. Government (assessed as Mid-importance).

United States Constitution Top‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States Constitution, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Constitution of the United States on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.United States ConstitutionWikipedia:WikiProject United States ConstitutionTemplate:WikiProject United States ConstitutionUnited States Constitution
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is about one (or many) person(s).

Politics: American / Libertarianism High‑importance

	Politics portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Politics, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of politics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PoliticsWikipedia:WikiProject PoliticsTemplate:WikiProject Politicspolitics
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by American politics task force (assessed as Top-importance).
	Libertarianism portal This article is supported by WikiProject Libertarianism (assessed as Mid-importance).

International relations Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject International relations, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of International relations on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.International relationsWikipedia:WikiProject International relationsTemplate:WikiProject International relationsInternational relations
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Guild of Copy Editors

This article was copy edited by Dhtwiki, a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, on 21–25 June 2022.Guild of Copy EditorsWikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsTemplate:WikiProject Guild of Copy EditorsGuild of Copy Editors

FA Article March 4, 2025

I have been notified the James Madison article has passed FA Review, and is scheduled for FA Article release on March 4, 2025. In the interest of the article, editors not involved with FA should refrain from major edits or edit waring, until the March 4, 2025 date. Please do not add any new photos to the article. Thank you for your cooperation. Cmguy777 (talk) 21:48, 25 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks to everyone who helped get the James Madison article to FA. The article reached over 48,000 views on the FA release date, March 4, 2025. Cmguy777 (talk) 20:10, 6 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Link fix not working in the article

I have tried several times to fix the Alysa, Landers link, in the article. Not working. Can some editor plaese fix this or get the link to work. Thank you. [1] Cmguy777 (talk) 00:50, 17 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed with this link: [2] Cmguy777 (talk) 02:49, 17 February 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Virginia was not known for "humane treatment" of slaves

I removed "As was consistent with Virginia's customs at the time" preface to sentence about Madison's treatment of his slaves: "As was consistent with Virginia's customs at the time ...the humane treatment of ... slaves." The source does not say that Virginia slaveowners uniformly treated their slaves humanely. The source (Hopkins) implies that the wealthly slaveowners were afriad of slave revolts, and did the bare minimum to keep the revolts from happening. I tried to find a wording that more accurately reflected the source, but nothing sensible came to me. I don't think the phrase "As was consistent with Virginia's customs at the time" adds anything to the sentence or paragraph, so nothing is lost by removing it.

In any case, many slaveowners treated their slaves horrifically in Virginia at that time, and suggestions to the contrary would need LOTS of sourcing and plenty of caveats.

Researchers at James Madison University documented over 100 lynchings of African Americans in Virginia after the civil war, the last one in 1932: https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/valynchings/victims/ Treatment before the war was not humane by any stretch of the imagination. Noleander (talk) 04:11, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

"100 lynchings of African Americans in Virginia" Your point being? The victims were not slaves. Dimadick (talk) 11:11, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

My point is that Virginia was a terribly racist state during Madison's era, one that joined the confederacy, and one that supported slavery, and one that - even after slavery was abolished - continued to be very, very racist. And any editor that tries to insert text that "Virginia slaveowners treated their slaves humanely" is a bigot and racist. Noleander (talk) 19:14, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution that abolished slavery was ratified in 1865. The source information given starts at 1866. This is 29 years after Madison's death. Of course, advocating human treatment of slaves is not the same as actual humane treatment. There would need to be a reliable source that says Madison did not treat his slaves humanely. This last minute Talk should have been discussed prior to FA release. Thank you. Cmguy777 (talk) 17:01, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

This article was promoted to FA nearly two years ago, in May 2023. And removing a demonstrably false statement, which is not supported by the given source, never requires advance discussion on Talk page. Noleander (talk) 19:11, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Since this article is on James Madison, did Madison or any overseers treat his slaves inhumanely? Are there any sources that say such a matter? Thank you. Cmguy777 (talk) 00:11, 5 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

According to Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, Madison was a "garden-variety slaveholder." He followed established social norms. Madison avoided excessive cruelty to his slaves. Slaves worked from dawn to dusk, six days a week, with Sundays off. EDT, A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons (2012), pages 21-22. Cmguy777 (talk) 01:01, 5 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

A few sources are not utilized?

I ran a wikipedia citation tool on the article, and it is showing 2 or 3 sources (in the Sources section) that do not have any citations refering to them. One had a citation, but I removed it (see topic immediately above); but there are also two others. Noleander (talk) 04:17, 4 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Can you list them here? ErnestKrause (talk) 16:03, 7 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]