ジェームズ・マディソン（1751–1836）は、アメリカ合衆国の憲法制定と共和政の制度設計に携わった政治思想家、政治家。ヴァージニアの農園主の家に生まれ、ニュージャージー大学（現在のプリンストン大学）で学んだ。独立革命期にヴァージニアの政治に入り、信教の自由を権利として保障することを主張した。連合規約のもとで中央政府の権限が弱いことを問題とし、1787年の憲法制定会議では審議の基礎となるヴァージニア案を構想した。会議後はアレグザンダー・ハミルトン、ジョン・ジェイとともに憲法批准を訴える論説を執筆し、『ザ・フェデラリスト』（原題 “The Federalist”）にまとめられた。第10篇では派閥の害を抑えるための広い共和国の意義を、第51篇では権力の集中を防ぐ制度上の抑制を論じ、代表制と権力分立の仕組みを説明した。会議中に残した『Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787』（未邦訳）は、各州代表の発言や妥協の過程を日ごとにたどる記録で、死後の1840年に公刊された。下院議員として権利章典につながる憲法修正を推進したのち、トーマス・ジェファソン政権の国務長官を経て、1809年から1817年まで第4代大統領を務めた。ジャック・N・ラコーヴが編んだ『James Madison: Writings』（未邦訳）は、革命期から晩年までの書簡、演説、論説を収め、信教の自由、連邦政府の権限、外交、奴隷制などをめぐる思考をたどれる選集となった。退任後も連邦の維持に関心を寄せ、1836年にモンペリエで死去した。
James Madison (1751–1836) was an American political thinker and statesman who helped shape the Constitution and the institutions of republican government. Born into a Virginia plantation family, he studied at the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. He entered Virginia politics during the Revolution and advocated protecting religious liberty as a right. Concerned about the weakness of the central government under the Articles of Confederation, he developed the Virginia Plan that became a starting point for debate at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. After the convention, he joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in writing essays in support of ratification, collected as The Federalist and translated into Japanese as Za Federarisuto. In No. 10, Madison explained how an extended republic could limit the dangers of faction; in No. 51, he examined institutional checks against concentrated power. His Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 recorded delegates’ arguments and the compromises behind the Constitution in a daily account first published in 1840, after his death. As a member of the House of Representatives, he promoted the amendments that became the Bill of Rights. He subsequently served as Thomas Jefferson’s secretary of state and as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. James Madison: Writings, edited by Jack N. Rakove, brought together letters, speeches, and essays from the Revolution to his final years, documenting his engagement with religious liberty, federal authority, diplomacy, and slavery. In retirement he remained concerned with preserving the Union and died at Montpelier in 1836.
