[20] Madison had contemplated either entering the clergy or practicing law after graduation, but instead remained at Princeton to study Hebrew and political philosophy under the college's president, John Witherspoon.[6] He returned home to Montpelier in early 1772.[21]
Madison's ideas on philosophy and morality were strongly shaped by Witherspoon, who converted him to the philosophy, values, and modes of thinking of the Age of Enlightenment. Biographer Terence Ball wrote that at Princeton, Madison "was immersed in the liberalism of the Enlightenment, and converted to eighteenth-century political radicalism. From then on James Madison's theories would advance the rights of happiness of man, and his most active efforts would serve devotedly the cause of civil and political liberty."[22]
After returning to Montpelier, without a chosen career, Madison served as a tutor to his younger siblings.[23] Madison began to study law books in 1773, asking his friend Bradford, a law apprentice, to send him a written plan of study. He had acquired an understanding of legal publications by 1783. Madison saw himself as a law student but not a lawyer; he did not apprentice himself to a lawyer, and never joined the bar.