About the Program
Chris DeRose recounts the congressional campaign and election between James Madison and James Monroe in 1789 for Virginia's Fifth District, the only time two future presidents ran against each other for a congressional seat. Mr. DeRose reports that Madison, an author and supporter of the U.S. Constitution and Monroe, a critic of the document, dissolved their once close relationship over their thoughts on the Constitution. The author contends that had James Monroe beaten James Madison for the congressional seat, an election that Madison won by 336 votes, the passage of the Bill of Rights would have been in doubt. Chris DeRose speaks at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona.