Let's Sort the Presidents! (Week 4: James Madison)

We now get to the first of the presidents that only people who studied their history know much about: James Madison.

As with Washington and Jefferson, the caveat "If it weren't for the slaves" applies, as he was born into a slave-keeping family, kept over 100 of them, and freed none of them, neither in life nor in his will.

I'm not a student of history, knowing only what I can read in his Wikipedia page. His role in the development of the US Constitution and other political activities makes him out as something of an "ideas man", which along with his strong academic record would tend to classify him as a Ravenclaw.

His war record is thin: He was a commission colonel in the militia, serving as his father's second-in-command, but he never saw any action, so the arguments for Gryffindor must rest on some other trait.

That's all I've got. Someone who knows more about this than I (which would be just about everyone else here) should weigh in.