The

The President of the United States is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

He's the leader of our nation in times of peace and in times of war.

The first president to be a wartime president was James Madison.

In 1812, Madison led the United States against its former enemy Great Britain.

This diminutive man at five foot four, the shortest of all of our presidents, was faced with

the task of taking on the mightiest nation on earth,

a nation that hadn't gotten over losing its former 13 colonies. Madison was a brilliant man,

playing a key role in the drafting of the Constitution and the ratification of the Bill of Rights,

but the War of 1812 would be his greatest test.

My guest today is James Early.

James is an adjunct professor of history at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas.

He's also the writer and co-host of several history podcasts, including Presidential Fight Club,

key battles of the Civil War, key battles of the Revolutionary War,

key battles of World War I, and most recently, key battles of American history.

So we have him on this episode to discuss Madison's leadership and what some call America's Second War of Independence.

So James, it's great to have you on the podcast.

Thank you, Richard. It's wonderful to be here. We did an interview on my show about a year ago,

so I'm excited to be a guest on your show. Great. Thank you. So James Madison, first wartime president in American history, set the scene for me. Who is James Madison? What was his upbringing?

Okay, well, James Madison, as a lot of our listeners already know, prior to becoming president,

had a very distinguished career. He had already accomplished so many things. He was one of the

major driving forces behind the writing of the U.S. Constitution, and he pretty

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