Dr. Broadwater is Associate Professor of History at Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina. He holds a J.D. from the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. in American History from Vanderbilt. His most recent book is George Mason, Forgotten Founder (Chapel Hill, 2006). He is also the author of Eisenhower and the Anti-Communist Crusade (Chapel Hill, 1992) and Adlai Stevenson and American Politics: The Odyssey of a Cold War Liberal (New York, 1994).
Jeff Broadwater
Associate Professor of History
Barton College
Five Things You Need To Know About James Madison (Jeff Broadwater)
The historian Irving Brant, who wrote a six-volume biography of James Madison, once complained about his subject’s modest place in America’s historical memory. “Among all the men who shaped the present government of the United States of America, the one who did the most is known the least.” In a modest effort to redress this Madisonian neglect, here are five things we should all know about America’s fourth president.
Wilson County (1855)
Formed in 1855, Wilson County was once home to the Tuscarora Indians. The county did not experience great growth until the arrival of the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad in the late 1830s. During most of the 20th century, the county was known as "the world’s greatest tobaccomarket." Its county seat is also called Wilson.
Abner Nash (circa 1740 – 1786)
Abner Nash served as the second governor of North Carolina during the darkest days of the American Revolution (1780-1781). The first North Carolina constitution gave few powers to the governor, and such limitations frustrated Nash, who disagreed constantly with the legislature. He refused to run for reelection.