[Sailor Steve]

Was looking through some boxes and came across two books I bought many years ago, but hardly ever touched.

One is Republic Of Letters: The Correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison 1776-1826, compiled by James Morton Smith. It is just what it says - the complete letters they wrote to each other from the Declaration of Independence to Jefferson's death 50 years later, along with an introduction to each period by the editor explaining what was going on at the time. Hardcover, 2075 pages.

The second is James Madison and the American Nation, 1751-1836, edited by Robert A. Rutland. This is an encyclopedia of the period contained within Madison's lifetime, and is a very handy reference to the people and events of the era. I just now used it to refresh my memory on the reasons why Madison originally opposed adding a Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, then later reversed himself and not only agreed to putting one in, but wrote most of it himself. Hardcover, 505 pages.