Today - March 16, 2010 - marks the 259th anniversary of the birth of our nation's fourth President. At 5' 4" tall (or short), James Madison is easily the shortest man to hold the highest office in the land. Today, I visited Madison's beautiful homestead, Montpelier, in Orange, Virginia. My son, Matt, accompanied me on this journey. He took some wonderful photos. He has an excellent eye for that sort of thing. But I digress.
We traveled to Montpelier because it was Madison's birthday (and we were delighted to learn upon our arrival that, in honor of his birthday, we were not required to fork over the $24 cost of our joint admission). I expected to take a tour of a beautiful home on a wonderful mountaintop. I wasn't disappointed.
More than this, I gained an even greater respect for Madison. Let's face it, his "Virginia Plan" was the working draft of the greatest single document in our country's short history. Sure, I am a big fan of Thomas Jefferson, and his "Declaration of Independence" is a work of art, as are Lincoln's "Second Inaugural" and "Gettysburg" adresses. But how do any other documents measure up against the brilliance of our Constitution?
James Madison certainly packed a huge intellect into his short and wiry frame. I wonder how fast he might have covered the mile on foot had he redirected even a fraction of the time he dedicated to the researching of former republics into training to be a distance runner. One thing's for sure, he had some great hills to train on!
Happy Birthday, President Madison.... and keep on running.
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