The Mind of a Madison Scholar

How do we know so much about James Madison? Telepathy? Osmosis?Actually, our knowledge about the Father of the Constitution is the product of hard work - hard work done by a number of dedicated Madison scholars, men and women who take the time to read Madison's papers, unearth his artifacts and tell his story. One of the most important of these hard-working scholars is Ralph Ketcham, who wrote the definitive one-volume biography of Madison over forty years ago, in 1971.That's why Stewart was so thrilled to meet Ralph at Montpelier during a recent visit. The two of them sat down for a long talk in the Constitutional Village, and Stewart turned on his microphone.