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James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was the fourth (1809–1817) President of the United States. Many scholars regard him as the most influential post-Revolutionary Founder of the United States of America. Because it was the core of his Virginia Plan that ultimately survived the thoroughly meticulous scrutiny of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, he became known as the "Father of the Constitution." Late that year and into the next, Madison, along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay waged a vigorous newspaper war in New York state, later published as The Federalist Papers, to help win its ratification. And in the First Congress, he supervised the formulation of and coordinated support for passage of the Constitution's Bill of Rights (1791). Undergirding his politics was a fervent belief in republicanism as the new nation's overarching social and political value system. As a leader in the House of Representatives, he worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government. Breaking with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Madison and Thomas Jefferson created the first Republican (later the Democratic Republican) party in opposition to key policies of the Federalists, especially the national bank and Jay's Treaty; in 1808 and 1812, they elected Madison president. As Jefferson's Secretary of State, he supervised the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation's size, and sponsored the ill-fated Embargo of 1807. As president he led the War of 1812 against Great Britain. That conflict began poorly but ended on a high note in 1815 after which a new spirit of nationalism swept the country. During and after the war Madison reversed many of his positions and by 1815, he supported a national bank, a strong military, and a moderate tariff structure.
Early life Madison was born in Port Conway, Virginia on March 16, 1751 (March 5 according to the Old Style or Julian calendar). He was the oldest of twelve children, seven of whom reached adulthood. His parents, Colonel James Madison, Sr. (March 27, 1723 – February 27, 1801) and Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway (January 9, 1731 – February 11, 1829), were slave owners and the prosperous owners of a tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia, where Madison spent most of his childhood years. He was raised in the Church of England, the state religion of Virginia at the time. Madison's plantation life was made possible by his paternal great-great-grandfather, James Madison, who utilized Virginia's headright system to import many indentured servants, thereby allowing him to accumulate a large tract of land. Madison, like his forebears, owned slaves. Madison attended in 1769-71 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. Political career Madison served in the state legislature (1776-79) and became known as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. In this capacity, he became a prominent figure in Virginia state politics, helping to draft the state's declaration of religious freedom and persuading Virginia to give its 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 was considered a legislative workhorse and a master of parliamentary detail. Father of the Constitution Back in the state legislature, he welcomed peace, but soon became alarmed at the fragility of the Articles of Confederation and especially at the divisiveness of state government. He was a strong advocate of a new constitution, one that would overcome that divisiveness. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, Madison's draft of the Virginia Plan, and his revolutionary three-branch federal system, became the basis for the American Constitution of today. Madison envisioned a strong federal government that would be the umpire that could overrule the mistakes made by the states; later in life he came to admire the Supreme Court as it started filling that role. Coauthor of Federalist Papers explaining the Constitution To aid the push for quick ratification, he joined with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write The Federalist Papers. It immediately became the single most important interpretation of the Constitution, and remains so among jurists and scholars. Madison wrote the single most quoted paper, Back in Virginia in 1788, he led the fight for ratification of the Constitution at the state's convention—oratorically dueling Patrick Henry and others who sought revisions (such as the United States Bill of Rights) before its ratification. Madison is often referred to as the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in its drafting and ratification. However, he protested this designation as being "a credit to which I have no claim... The Constitution was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom, the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands". He wrote Hamilton, at the New York ratifying convention, observing that his opinion was that "ratification was in toto and for ever". The Virginia convention had considered conditional ratification worse than a rejection. Author of Bill of Rights Patrick Henry persuaded the Virginia legislature not to elect Madison as one of their first Senators; but Madison was directly elected to the new United States House of Representatives and immediately became an important leader from the First Congress through the Fourth Congress (1789–1797). Though he had earlier believed that "that a specific bill of rights remained unnecessary because the Constitution itself was a bill of rights" (Matthews 1995, 130), Madison wrote the Bill of Rights, which had been promised to the anti-Federalists in exchange for their support for ratification. Madison synthesized the hundreds of specific proposals that had been suggested from across the country, incorporating all the rights, such as free speech and judicial due process, that Americans wanted protected against federal infringement. The Bill of Rights did not apply to the states, not till the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments did amendments restrict the powers of the states. In June 1789, Madison offered a package of twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution.* By December 1791, the last ten of these were ratified and became the Bill of Rights; the second was finally ratified in 1992. (The remaining proposal would place limits on the size of the House, but would permit the present 435 membership to be changed by hundreds.) Opposition to Hamilton The chief characteristic of Madison's time in Congress was his work to limit the power of the federal government. Wood (2006) argued that Madison never wanted a national government that took an active role. He was horrified to discover that Hamilton and Washington were creating "a real modern European type of government with a bureaucracy, a standing army, and a powerful independent executive". When Britain and France went to war in 1793 the U.S. was caught in the middle. The 1777 treaty of alliance with France was still in effect, yet most of the new country's trade was with Britain. War with Britain seemed close to some in 1794, as the British seized hundreds of American ships that were trading with French colonies. Madison (in collaboration with Jefferson, who was in private life), believed that Britain was weak and America strong, and that a trade war with Britain, although it threatened retaliation by Britain, probably would succeed, and would allow Americans to assert their independence fully. Great Britain, he charged, "has bound us in commercial manacles, and very nearly defeated the object of our independence". As Varg explains, Madison had no fear of British recriminations for "her interests can be wounded almost mortally, while ours are invulnerable". The British West Indies, he maintained, could not live without American foodstuffs, but Americans could easily do without British manufactures. This same faith led him to the conclusion "that it is in our power, in a very short time, to supply all the tonnage necessary for our own commerce". However, George Washington avoided a trade war and instead secured friendly trade relations with Britain through the Jay Treaty of 1794. Madison tried and failed to defeat the treaty, and it became a central issue of the emerging First Party System. All across the country voters divided for and against the Treaty and other key issues, and thus became Federalists or Republicans. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton built a nationwide network of supporters that became the Federalist Party, and promoted a strong central government with a national bank. Madison and Jefferson opposed these policies and opposed the Federalists as centralizers and pro-British elitists 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. Most historians argue that Madison changed radically from a nationally-oriented ally of Hamilton in 1787-88, to a states-rights oriented opponent of a strong national government by 1795. Madison started with attacks on Hamilton; by 1793 he was attacking Washington as well. Madison usually lost and Hamilton usually achieved passage of his legislation, including the National Bank, funding of state and national debts, and support of the Jay Treaty. (Madison did block the proposal for high tariffs.) Madison's politics remained closely aligned with Jefferson's until the experience of a weak national government during the War of 1812 led Madison to appreciate the need for a stronger central government. He then began to support a national bank, a stronger navy and a standing army. However, other historians, led by Lance Banning and Gordon Wood, see more continuity in Madison's views and do not see a sharp break in 1792. Marriage: Dolley Madison On September 15, 1794, Madison married Dolley Payne Todd, who cut as attractive and vivacious a figure as he did a sickly and antisocial one. Dolley is largely credited with inventing the role of "First Lady" as political ally to the president. Secretary of State 1801–1809 The main challenge Madison faced during the Jefferson Administration 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 in 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 President 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 and France, 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 party's Congressional Caucus chose presidential candidates, and Madison was chosen in the election of 1808, easily defeating Charles Cotesworth Pinckney. Congress repealed the failed embargo as Madison took office. Presidency 1809–1817
Administration and Cabinet Supreme Court appointments Madison appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States: States admitted to the Union Later life After leaving office, Madison retired to Montpelier, his tobacco plantation in Virginia, which was 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. He also produced several memoranda on political subjects, including an essay against the appointment of chaplains for Congress and the armed forces, on the grounds that this produced religious exclusion, but not political harmony. 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. He died on June 28, 1836 from rheumatism and heart failure. He left no children and was the last founding father to die. His detailed notes on the Constitutional Convention were published a few years after his death. Trivia 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. See also Primary sources Biographies Analytic studies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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