James Madison Biography
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James Madison (March 16, 1751 June 28,
1836) was the fourth (18091817) President of the United States. He was
co-author, with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, of the Federalist
Papers, and is traditionally regarded as the Father of the United States
Constitution. He is less well remembered for making an unsuccessful
invasion of Canada.
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Early life
Madison was born in Port Conway, Virginia
on March 16, 1751 (March 5 according to the Old Style Julian Calendar).
Eldest of 9 children (two of them died in infancy), his parents Colonel
James Madison, Sr. (March 27, 1723 February 27, 1801) and Eleanor Rose
"Nellie" Conway (January 9, 1731 February 11, 1829) were the
prosperous owners of the tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia,
where Madison spent most of his childhood years. Madison's plantation
life was made possible by his paternal great-great-grandfather, James
Madison, who utilized Virginia's headright system to import a
significant number of indentured servants, thereby allowing him to
accumulate a large tract of land.
In 1769, Madison left the plantation to
attend the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University),
finishing its four-year course in two years, but exhausting himself from
overwork in the process. When he regained his health, he served in the
state legislature (1776-79) and became known as a protιgι of Thomas
Jefferson. In this capacity, he became a prominent figure in Virginia
state politics, helping to draft their declaration of religious freedom
and persuading Virginia to give their northwestern territories
(consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois) to the
Continental Congress.
As a delegate to the Continental Congress
(1780-83), he excelled as a legislative workhorse and master of
parliamentary detail. Back in the state legislature he welcomed peace,
but soon became alarmed at the fragility of the Confederation. He was a
strong advocate of a new constitution, and played the leading role in
drafting and negotiating the main points at the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. To foster the ratification effort,
he joined with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write The Federalist
Papers, one of the most influential documents in American political
history. Back in Virginia in 1788, he led the fight for ratification of
the constitution at the state's convention--oratorically out dueling
Patrick Henry and formidable forces aligned against acceptance of the
constitution. For his efforts, Madison is known as the "Father of the
Constitution."
Congressional years
When the Constitution was ratified, Madison
was elected to the United States House of Representatives from his home
state of Virginia and served from the First Congress through the Fourth
Congress, and was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party during his
final term in the House. On June 8, 1789, he successfully offered a
package of twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Based upon
earlier work by George Mason, the final ten of these rights became what
is collectively known as the Bill of Rights by December 15, 1791. An
eleventh of the amendments was belatedly ratified more than two
centuries later and is today the 27th Amendment.
The chief characteristic of Madison's time
in Congress was his desire to limit the power of the federal government.
During this time, the debate between Hamilton and Jefferson led to the
formation of the first political parties in U.S. history. Members of the
Federalist Party followed Hamilton and believed in a strong central
government. Madison was instrumental in the creation of the
Democratic-Republican Party party, which opposed the Hamiltonians as
crypto-monarchists who would undermine republican values. Madison led
the unsuccessful attempt to block Hamilton's proposed Bank of the United
States, arguing the new Constitution did not explicitly allow the
federal government to form a bank.
In 1794, Madison married Dolley Payne Todd,
who cut as attractive and vivacious a figure as he did a sickly and
antisocial one. It is Dolley who is largely credited with inventing the
role of "First Lady" as political ally to the president.
In 1797, Madison left Congress; in 1798, he
and Jefferson secretly wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions which
insisted that states could block unconstitutional federal laws. Most
biographers see a sea-change with Madison moving from strong nationalism
in 1787-88 to a states' rights position that became extreme in the
resolutions of 1798. Other scholars, notably Lance Banning, see more
continuity, arguing Madison was never caught up in Hamilton's dream of a
powerful nation.
The main challenge Madison faced was
navigating between the two great empires of Britain and France, which
were almost constantly at war. The first great triumph was the Louisiana
Purchase on 1803, made possible when Napoleon realized he could not
defend that vast territory, and it was to France's advantage that
Britain not seize it. He and Jefferson reversed party policy to
negotiate and win Congressional approval for the Purchase. Madison tried
to maintain neutrality, but at the same time insisted on the legal
rights of the U.S. under international law. Neither London nor Paris
showed much respect, however. Madison and Jefferson decided on an
Embargo to punish Britain, which meant forbidding all Americans to trade
with any foreign nation. The Embargo failed as foreign policy and
instead caused massive hardships in the northeastern seaboard, which
depended on foreign trade. The Republican Congressional Caucus chose
presidential candidates for the party, and Madison was chosen in the
election of 1808, easily defeating Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.
Presidency 1809-1817
Policies
British insults continued, especially the
practice of using the Royal Navy to intercept unarmed American merchant
ships and "impressing" (seizing) all sailors who might be British
subjects for service in the British navy. Madison's protests were
ignored, so he helped stir up public opinion in the west and south for
war. One argument was that an American invasion of Canada would be easy
and would be a good bargaining chip. Madison carefully prepared public
opinion for what everyone at the time called "Mr. Madison's War," but
much less time and money was spent building up the army, navy, forts or
state militias. Historians in 2006 ranked Madison's failure to avoid war
as the #6 worst presidential mistake ever made. After Congress declared
war, Madison was re-elected President over DeWitt Clinton, but by a
smaller margin than in 1808 (see U.S. presidential election, 1812).
In the ensuing War of 1812, the British won
numerous victories, including the capture of Detroit after the American
general surrendered to a small force without a fight, and occupation of
Washington, D.C., forcing Madison to flee the city and watch atop a hill
in Virginia as the White House was set on fire by British troops. The
British also armed American Indians in the West, most notably followers
of Tecumseh. Finally a standoff was reached on the Canadian border. The
Americans built warships on the Great Lakes faster than the British, and
gained the upper hand. At sea, the British blockaded the entire
coastline, cutting off both foreign trade and domestic trade between
ports.
After the defeat of Napoleon, both the
British and Americans were exhausted, the causes of the war had been
forgotten, and it was time for peace. New England Federalists, however,
set up a secret defeatist Hartford Convention and threatened secession.
In 1814, the Treaty of Ghent ended the war, allowing each side to keep
the territory it held when the treaty was finalized. The Battle of New
Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson defeated the British regulars, was
fought 15 days after the treaty was signed but before it was finalized.
With peace finally established, America was swept by a sense of euphoria
and national achievement in finally securing full independence from
Britain. The Federalists fell apart and eventually disappeared from
politics, as an Era of Good Feeling emerged with a much lower level of
political fear and vituperation.
In his last act before leaving office,
Madison vetoed a bill for "internal improvements," including roads,
bridges, and canals:
"Having considered the bill...I am
constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling this
bill with the Constitution of the United States...The legislative powers
vested in Congress are specified...in the...Constitution, and it does
not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among
the enumerated powers..."
Madison rejected the view of Congress that
the General Welfare Clause justified the bill, stating:
"Such a view of the Constitution would have
the effect of giving to Congress a general power of legislation instead
of the defined and limited one hitherto understood to belong to them,
the terms 'common defense and general welfare' embracing every object
and act within the purview of a legislative trust."
Madison would support internal improvement
schemes only through constitutional amendment; but he urged a variety of
measures that he felt were "best executed under the national authority,"
including federal support for roads and canals that would "bind more
closely together the various parts of our extended confederacy."
Administration and Cabinet
OFFICE NAME TERM
President James Madison 18091817
Vice President George Clinton 18091812
Elbridge Gerry 18131814
Secretary of State Robert Smith 18091811
James Monroe 18111814
James Monroe 18151817
Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin
18091814
George W. Campbell 1814
Alexander J. Dallas 18141816
William H. Crawford 18161817
Secretary of War William Eustis 18091812
John Armstrong, Jr. 1813
James Monroe 18141815
William Crawford 18151816
George Graham (ad interim) 18161817
Attorney General Caesar A. Rodney 18091811
William Pinkney 18111814
Richard Rush 18141817
Postmaster General Gideon Granger 18091814
Return Meigs 18141817
Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton
18091813
William Jones 18131814
Benjamin Crowninshield 18151817
Supreme Court appointments
Madison appointed the following Justices to
the Supreme Court of the United States:
Gabriel Duvall 1811
Joseph Story 1812
States admitted to the Union
Louisiana April 30, 1812
Indiana December 11, 1816
Later life
After leaving office, Madison retired to
Montpelier, his tobacco plantation in Virginia, not far from Jefferson's
Monticello. He engaged in extensive correspondence on political affairs,
and served on the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia for 17
years. Upon the death of Thomas Jefferson in 1826, Madison became the
Rector of the University of Virginia and served for the next 10 years
until his own death. This occurred on June 28, 1836 due to rheumatism
and heart failure. He left no children. His detailed notes on the
Constitutional Convention were published after his death. By his
request, these notes were not to be published until the death of the
last signer of the Constitution. The implication is that Madison did not
want the thoughts and debates of the founders to shape the nation's
interpretation of what the Constitution meant. He strongly believed that
the text, and only the text, should be consulted.
Madison's portrait was on the U.S. $5000
bill. There were about twenty different varieties of $5000 bills issued
between 1861 and 1946, and all but three had James Madison. Madison also
appears on the $200 Series EE Savings Bond.
Trivia
At 5 feet, 4 inches in height (163 cm) and
100 pounds (45 kg) in weight, Madison was the nation's shortest
president and frequently ill. He was too frail for military service
during the Revolution.
Madison was a second cousin of the 12th
U.S. President, Zachary Taylor.
A nephew James M. Rose was killed at the
Battle of the Alamo.
A great-nephew, James Edwin Slaugther, was
a Confederate General.
Both of Madison's Vice Presidents, George
Clinton, and Elbridge Gerry died in office.
Madison took the most comprehensive notes
at the Constitutional Convention, which were not published until after
his death.
In 1812, President Madison signed a federal
bill which cancelled duty on plates aboard one ship imported by the
Bible Society of Philadelphia to print Bibles. "An Act for the relief of
the Bible Society of Philadelphia" Approved February 2, 1813 by
Congress.
Madison is currently the only sitting
president to have taken fire from enemy combantants during war.
The title bird in Dick King-Smith's child's
novel Harry's Mad is named after James Madison.
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Date Article Copied:
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