179 James Madison

179.James Madison

Of all the members of the Convention , James Madison of Virginia best deserves the title of Father of the Constitution . He drew up the Virginia plan which was adopted as the basis of the new Constitution . He spoke convincingly for the plan in the Convention . He did more than any one else to secure the ratification of the Constitution by Virginia . He kept a careful set of Notes of the debates of the Convention which show us precisely how the Constitution was made . With Alexander Hamilton and John Jay he wrote a series of papers which is called the Federalist and is stil the best guide to the Constitution .