The political and cultural landscape has become a minefield of conflicting beliefs, many now rooted less in public policy than in personal identity. One of James Madison’s central concerns in drafting the Constitution was the danger posed by “factions”—political, economic or ideological groups so driven by shared passions that they might place their own power above the rights of others...

Since my dinner with Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison, I’ve been reading more about James Madison, who’s often called the father of the Constitution. What struck me is this: despite the distance of time, he isn’t speaking about us. He’s speaking to us. Madison did not fear a foreign army nearly as much as he feared us. That is not an...

In June 1790, I attended an extraordinary dinner. Through a tear in the fabric of time, I found myself seated at a small table with three revolutionary figures: Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. While the dinner itself was real, it was reconstructed by author Charles A. Cerami in Dinner at Mr. Jefferson’s. Even if the precise words spoken...