Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 2 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
At 23, Madison committed himself irretrievably to the revolutionary cause by becoming a member of the local Committee of Safety, he soon found himself commanding a regiment of militia. A month after his 26th birthday, he was elected to the Virginia Constitutional Convention. Religious liberty had always been a deep concern of Madison, and in the convention the future author of our First Amendment quietly persuaded the delegates to broaden Virginia’s guarantees of religious freedoms. The convention’s first draft had proposed that “all men should eryoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion;” Madison succeeded in changing this government “toleration” into a statement of individual right: “All men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion.”
To so influence the first American state Bill of Rights would be an accomplishment of which anyone might boast. For Madison, it was but a beginning. The following year the legislature appointed him to the Council of State. Soon thereafter his influence extended beyond VirginiaAt 29, he became the youngest man ever to sit in the Continental Congress. In 1786 he undertook extensive historical studies of various republics. Few ages have been as history-conscious as the late 18th Century, and Madison’s ability to discuss the failings and strengths of political units over the centuries was a powerful asset in later life.
John Quincy Adams would later -speak of the “inexhaustible resources of his gigantic mind” —
87.5%