James Madison

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James Madison
James Madison
4th President of the United States
Term of office March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1817
Preceded by Thomas Jefferson
Succeeded by James Monroe
Date of birth March 16, 1751
Place of birth Port Conway, Virginia
Date of death June 28, 1836
Place of death Montpelier, Virginia
Spouse Dolley Todd Madison
Political party Democratic-Republican

James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was the fourth (1809–1817) President of the United States. Known as the "Father of the Constitution," he played a leading role in creating the United States Constitution in 1787 and, with Alexander Hamilton, was the chief expounder of its meaning in the Federalist Papers (1788). Working closely with Thomas Jefferson he created the Democratic-Republican Party in the mid-1790s and built a system of grass roots political activism that was victorious in the "Revolution of 1800." As Jefferson's Secretary of State he handled the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation's size, and tried to avoid war with Britain and France. As president he declared war on Britain, the War of 1812.

Early life

Madison was born in Port Conway, Virginia on March 16, 1751. He was the eldest of twelve children and only seven of them will reach adulthood. His parents, Colonel James Madison, Sr. and Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway, 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 Episcopalian. 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.

In 1769, Madison left the plantation to attend the College of New Jersey, 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 and became known as a protégé 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, he was considered a legislative workhorse and a 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 a leading role in drafting and negotiating the main points at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. To aid the push for quick ratification, he joined with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write The Federalist Papers. 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 to the constitution before its ratification. Madison is often referred to as the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in its drafting and ratification. However, Madison 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."

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. With Jefferson he was the cofounder of the Democratic-Republican Party during his final term in the House. On June 8, 1789, he successfully offered 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, which opposed the Hamiltonians as centralizers, 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.

In 1794, Madison married Dolley Payne Madison. 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 and became the basis of States rights arguments until 1861. 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.

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 did not seize it. He and Thomas 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 Democratic-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

File:Jm4.gif
James Madison

British provocation continued, particularly the practice of using the Royal Navy to intercept unarmed American merchant ships and draft 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. After Congress declared war, Madison was re-elected President over DeWitt Clinton but by a smaller margin than in 1808.

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 defeatist Hartford Convention that discussed secession. In 1814, the Treaty of Ghent ended the war. The treaty nullified any territorial gains on either side, returning the countries to status quo ante bellum. 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 1809–1817
Vice President George Clinton 1809–1812
  Elbridge Gerry 1813–1814
Secretary of State Robert Smith 1809–1811
  James Monroe 1811–1814
  James Monroe 1815–1817
Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin 1809–1814
  George W. Campbell 1814
  Alexander J. Dallas 1814–1816
  William H. Crawford 1816–1817
Secretary of War William Eustis 1809–1812
  John Armstrong, Jr. 1813
  James Monroe 1814–1815
  William H. Crawford 1815–1816
  George Graham (ad interim) 1816–1817
Attorney General Caesar A. Rodney 1809–1811
  William Pinkney 1811–1814
  Richard Rush 1814–1817
Postmaster General Gideon Granger 1809–1814
  Return Meigs 1814–1817
Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton 1809–1813
  William Jones 1813–1814
  Benjamin Crowninshield 1815–1817


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, 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. 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 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.

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), Madison was the nation's shortest president and was 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.
  • Nephew James M. Rose was killed at the Battle of the Alamo. [1]
  • Great-nephew James Edwin Slaugther was a Confederate General. [2]
  • 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 proposed a federal bill which economically aided the Bible Society of Philadelphia in its goal of the mass distribution of the Bible. “ An Act for the relief of the Bible Society of Philadelphia” Approved February 2, 1813 by Congress. [1]
  • Madison is currently the only sitting president to have taken fire from enemy combatants during war.
  • Madison was the first US President who wasn't the vice president to the previous president.
  • The title bird in Dick King-Smith's child's novel Harry's Mad is named after James Madison.
  • In 1840, what is now known as the city of Orange, Texas was once named Madison in honor of this president. The city was renamed Orange in 1858 because of the frequent post office confusion with another Texas town called Madisonville. [2]
  • His last words were, "I always talk better lying down." [3]

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  1. ↑ http://www.eadshome.com/JamesMadison.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/OO/heo1.html
  3. ↑ http://www.diplom.org/manus/Presidents/faq/last.html

Primary sources

  • Cooke, Jacob E., ed. The Federalist Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press, 1982, c1961 ISBN 0819560774
  • Hunt, Gaillard, ed., The Writings of James Madison 9 vols., New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900-10
  • Hutchinson, William T., et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962-1991 the definitive multivolume edition, 29 volumes have been published, with 16+ more volumes planned.
  • Madison, James Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Union, N.J. : Lawbook Exchange, 1999 ISBN 1886363773, which framed the Constitution of the United States of America [3]
  • Madison, James James Madison: Writings 1772-1836. Library of America, 1999 ISBN 1883011663 over 900 pages of letters, speeches and reports.
  • Smith, James M., ed. The Republic of Letters: The Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1776-1826 3 vol., New York : Norton, 1995 ISBN 039303691X (set)

Secondary sources

Biographies

  • Brant, Irving James Madison 6 vol., Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1941-61
  • Ketcham, Ralph James Madison: A Biography Newtown, CT : AMERICAN POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY PRESS, 2003 ISBN 0945707339
  • Rakove, Jack James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic 2nd ed., New York : Longman, c2002 ISBN 0321087976
  • Wills, Garry James Madison New York : Times Books, 2002 ISBN 0805069054

Analytic studies

External links

Preceded by:
(none) 		U.S. At-Large Congressman from Virginia
1789 – 1791 		Succeeded by:
(district system)
Preceded by:
(at-large system) 		U.S. Congressman for the 5th District of Virginia
1791 – 1793 		Succeeded by:
George Hancock
Preceded by:
(none) 		U.S. Congressman for the 15th District of Virginia
1793 – 1797 		Succeeded by:
(none)
Preceded by:
John Marshall 		United States Secretary of State
May 2, 1801 – March 3, 1809 		Succeeded by:
Robert Smith
Preceded by:
Thomas Jefferson 		Democratic-Republican Party presidential candidate
1808 (won), 1812 (won) 		Succeeded by:
James Monroe
Preceded by:
Thomas Jefferson 		President of the United States
March 4, 1809 – March 3, 1817 		Succeeded by:
James Monroe

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