james madison bequeathed us a different legacy. "if men were angels," he wrote in defense of the constitution, "no government would be necessary. if angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. in framing a government, which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this. you must first enable the government to control the governed, and in the next phase oblige to control itself." these words may help to explain madison the war president, a role which he appears temperamentally miscast. his practice of jeffersonial -- jeffersonian frugalty served him and the country badly when war broke out with britain in 1812, having starved john adams navy, adam -- madison was forced to entrust much of the battle at sea to privateers, as if the president in modern times were to outsource the war in afghanistan to bill gates or warren buffett. for the better part of two centuries, historians judged madison the intellectual to be a better theorist than war time leader. in the latter capacity he was seen as th