The Life of James Madison

A NUMBER of the lesser provisions of the Constitution were incorporated on Madison's motion. These were: The power of the Federal Government to grant copyrights and patents for inventions; to dispose of the public lands and provide temporary government for them; to acquire, with the consent of the States, lands for Federal forts, arsenals, etc., and to regulate intercourse with the Indians. He was the author of the clause conferring exclusive jurisdiction in Congress over a seat of Government, when one should be chosen, and of the article specifying how amendments might be made.* He was in favour of the election of the President by popular vote,^† and accepted as approximating this end the intermediate agency of the electoral college which Wilson suggested.^‡ It proved at the first election to be only a vehicle for registering the public will, and has never been anything else. Upon Madison's motion a member of Congress was made ineligible for appointment to an office created, or the emoluments of which had been increased, during his term of Congressional service. He assisted in putting the final touches to the Constitution, being a member of the committee on style, the last one appointed by the Convention. His colleagues were Johnson, Hamilton, Gouverneur Morris and King. They were selected as the most polished scholars and the best masters of the English tongue in the Convention.

The most brilliant man of this galaxy had, however

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