The scope of Richard Labunski’s latest work is much broader than the title would suggest. It is less a study of James Madison’s campaign to secure the adoption of a Bill of Rights than it is an account of the Virginian’s role in the drafting, ratification and amending of the federal constitution. Labunski begins at the Constitutional Convention in the summer of 1787; in succeeding chapters, he considers elections to the Virginia ratifying convention, the extensive debates in that body, the elections to the First Congress and finally, Madison’s efforts to win the necessary approval for his proposed amendments. As Labunski himself acknowledges, Madison originally opposed a Bill of Rights: at both the Philadelphia and Richmond conventions he maintained that it would be an unnecessary addition to the new frame of government. In a letter to Thomas Jefferson, who was deeply concerned by the absence of a Bill of Rights, Madison defended his position by arguing that the people retained all rights not expressly assumed by the federal government, that state governments would maintain a check on the powers of the national body and that amendments of this nature would be ineffective if they were at odds with the popular will. In this instance, a Bill of Rights would be little more than a “parchment barrier.” It was not until Madison was threatened with defeat in the election for House Representatives that he began to show his support for a Bill of Rights. Even then, he seems to have been motivated more by votes and a desire for popular acceptance of the constitution than a genuine belief in the necessity of amendments. Once in Congress, however, Madison began to campaign wholeheartedly for a Bill of Rights that would protect and secure the rights of the American people.

In his account of this period, Labunski considers the critical nature of Madison’s role and the numerous obstacles that stood in the way of the constitution and Bill of Rights being approved. The author is to be praised for emphasising the difficulties that Federalists, Madison in particular, faced and the extent to which ratification was far from a foregone conclusion. In a field that has been dominated by national studies of the ratification process, Labunski’s discussion of Virginia’s pivotal position is a useful contribution to the literature. However, this is, above all, a narrative survey and as such, it is not always sufficiently analytical. Labunski traces, but does not satisfactorily explain, Madison’s conversion from opponent to supporter of amendments and, in a book supposedly devoted to the struggle for a Bill of Rights, surprisingly little attention is paid to the extensive arguments on the substance and extent of these rights before they were considered in Congress.

This is an accessible, readable study that general readers and undergraduates might enjoy. It could be useful for researchers seeking an introductory survey, but experts will probably find little to engage with.