This is an editorial introduction and partial transcription from the published Papers of James Madison, presenting Madison's youth commonplace book (a notebook of excerpts and notes from his reading, primarily 1762–1772). The document includes extensive editorial notes contextualizing Madison's reading in Cardinal de Retz's Memoirs, works on national character, The Spectator, and other polite literature. While primarily biographical, it documents intellectual currents and reading habits of an educated colonial American during the pre-Revolutionary period.