James Madison-Checks and Balances to Limit Government Power

Very recommendable! Rarely in history have so many great minds met in one place!

In particular, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson had apparently a very close and affectionate friendship:
"As Jefferson wrote in his most poignant letter, February 17, 1826 [just a few month before his death on July 4]: “The friendship which has subsisted between us, now half a century, and the harmony of our political principles and pursuits, have been sources of constant happiness to me. . . . It has also been a great solace to me, to believe that you are engaged in vindicating to posterity the course we have pursued for preserving to them, in all their purity, the blessings of self-government. . . . To myself you have been a pillar of support through life. Take care of me when dead, and be assured that I shall leave with you my last affections.”"

James Madison-Checks and Balances to Limit Government Power - Foundation for Economic Education: James Madison didn't originate the idea of checks and balances for limiting government power, but he helped push it farther than anyone else before or since. Previous political thinkers, citing British experience, had talked about checks and balances with a monarch in the mix, but Madison helped apply the principle to a republic. Contrary to such respected thinkers as Baron de Montesquieu, Madison insisted checks and balances could help protect liberty in a large republic.