Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton, by Professor William Allen

Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton, by Professor William B. Allen. This short video contrasts the relationship of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson with that of Madison and Hamilton. Madison and Jefferson were close, lifelong, intimate friends and intellectual partners while Hamilton and Madison only occasionally collaborated (i.e. at the Constitutional Convention or while writing the Federalist Papers.) Professor William B. Allen notes that Hamilton and Jefferson never accommodated each other’s ideas while Hamilton and Madison could at least sustain an intellectual engagement.

Professor William B. Allen is an emeritus professor Political Philosophy and the former Dean of the James Madison College at Michigan State University. He was a member of the National Council on the Humanities 1984–87, and Chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1988 to 1989.