James Madison (1751-1836), the father of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, had a portrait of Confucius hanging in his
In his 2013 book, The Founders at Home: The Building of America, 1735-1817, Dr. Myron Magnet made his efforts to examine the reasons why the American revolution the only successful revolution. Readers may get the answer from reading his book. For me, one of the reasons was that the founders drew positive elements and received inspiration from other cultures, particularly Chinese culture.
The below vivid description of Madison's personal experiences in his Virginia home reveals the significance of Confucius portrait at his house. The fourth president "had lived nineteen years in Montpelier, the columned brick Virginia plantation where he had grown up since age nine or ten, where as a young legislator he had pored over history and political philosophy to help fame his plan for the U.S. Constitution". (From The Founders at Home, p.321)
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