James Madison

This portrait of James Madison appears in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal. This story looks at the debate our founders had about how much federal representation individual states should have. Madison argued that representation should be proportionate to the population of each state, which would have been more reflective of a true democracy. Unfortunately, the author of the Constitution lost this debate. Regardless of enormous disparities in population, each state has two senators. Thanks to art director, Alice Cheung, for this fascinating assignment!

(Map: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. Convention scene: Alamy Stock)

Ben Franklin

This piece was commissioned for a dear friend who recently retired from teaching social studies. As a history buff, she has always admired this founding father of the United States, Ben Franklin. And why not? To name a few accomplishments, he was a statesman, inventor, publisher, printer, abolitionist, as well as the first US Postmaster General (as a frequent user of our exceptional postal service, I really appreciate this last accomplishment) . While I have very mixed feelings about a number of America’s founders, this man embodied the best of the this young county’s spirit, and was a big believer in democracy. Thanks so much for this opportunity, Christa!