Madison's fire still burns

By Julie Anderson
Assistant Arts Editor

Breakthroughs into the future are expected, however breakthroughs into the past are rare and by nature precarious. UK history professor Lance Banning is one of those who have successfully broken ground with the past.

Branching away from the accepted scholarly thoughts on James Madison, the fourth President of the United States, is Banning's Pulitzer Prize nominated biography The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic .

"The Sacred Fire is a somewhat new view of James Madison's contributions and Madison was one of the four or five most important figures and part of one of the most important generations of public men," Banning said.

Taking advantage of the standard historical documents, Banning re-read and re-evaluated in his own terms the evolution of thought of one of the most significant figures in American history.

"When I came to the original sources, his papers, letters and other writings, what I saw there, is something that led me to different conclusions," Banning said.

As a prime player in the Constitutional Convention, Madison aided in the drafting of the Constitution and through co-authoring The Federalist Papers , he thoughtfully advocated state ratification of the Constitution.

Madison continued his educated persuasions at the first Congress where he supported the Bill of Rights. His resumŽ was exemplary.

However, Madison may be most well known as a defender of a strong national government during the 1780s. As well, accepted is the idea that his nationalist view shifted to an anti-federalist standpoint 10 years later.

This is where Banning questions what a strong national government entails and advocates Madison was never a fiery Nationalist.

In the introduction Banning states his mission: "Surprisingly there has never been a book about the evolution of his (Madison's) founding vision. ... The story to be told is that of Madison's participation in the reconstruction of the federal system: his effort to identify the nation's needs, to meet them in accord with its ideals, to first conceive and then defend a governmental form and practice that would shelter and perfect the Revolution."

Banning who completed his undergraduate work in Kansas City, became intrigued with Madison during his doctoral days at Washington University in St. Louis, focusing on the political thinking of the Jeffersonian and the Republican Party origins and their party point of view.

His dissertation became a book, Jeffersonian Persuasion . Since 1978 Banning has been developing the ideas for The Sacred Fire of Liberty .

"My interest is in that particular generation of public men, the founding generation, the revolutionary generation. It's an interest in that period and an interest in the way that politics and political ideas interplay with one another," Banning said.

"This was the generation of people who made the original decisions about what America was going to be."

Banning came to UK in 1973 and has been teaching in his areas of expertise, the American Revolution and the American Republic roughly spanning the years 1765-1815.

Incorporating wherever possible in his years of published research when teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses.

"The research and writing that people do necessarily feeds continuously into what they are teaching. In my Revolution courses and Early Republic courses there is change and I hope they improve from year to year as I myself learn new things," Banning said.

Last year, Banning completed and published a second briefer book, Jefferson and Madison: Three Conversations from the Founding .

Banning's future plans involve fulfilling three contracts entailing works on a more modest scale, a collection of essays, a resource book for the first American Party struggle, and a brief biography of Alexander Hamilton.