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James Madison (March 16, 1751 [b] – June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison was popularly acclaimed the "Father of the Constitution" for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the ...
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James Madison created the basic framework for the U.S. Constitution and helped write the Bill of Rights. He is therefore known as the Father of the Constitution. He served as the fourth U.S. president, and he signed a declaration of war against Great Britain, starting the War of 1812.
What did James Madison accomplish?
Besides creating the basic outline for the U.S. Constitution, James Madison was one of the authors of the Federalist papers. As secretary of state under Pres. Thomas Jefferson, he oversaw the Louisiana Purchase. He and Jefferson founded the Democratic-Republican Party. After leaving the presidency, he wrote the Virginia Resolutions opposing the Alien and Sedition Acts.
What was James Madison’s education?
James Madison was privately educated before attending the College of New Jersey, which became Princeton University, where he studied classical languages, mathematics, rhetoric, geography, and philosophy as well as Hebrew and political philosophy.
How did James Madison get into politics?
Madison was born at the home of his maternal grandmother. The son and namesake of a leading Orange county landowner and squire, he maintained his lifelong home in Virginia at Montpelier, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. In 1769 he rode horseback to the College of New Jersey (Princeton University), selected for its hostility to episcopacy. He completed the four-year course in two years, finding time also to demonstrate against England and to lampoon members of a rival literary society in ribald verse. Overwork produced several years of epileptoid hysteria and premonitions of early death, which thwarted military training but did not prevent home study of public law, mixed with early advocacy of independence (1774) and furious denunciation of the imprisonment of nearby Dissenters from the established Anglican church. Madison never became a church member, but in maturity he expressed a preference for Unitarianism.
His health improved, and he was elected to Virginia’s 1776 Revolutionary convention, where he drafted the state’s guarantee of religious freedom. In the convention-turned-legislature he helped Thomas Jefferson disestablish the church but lost reelection by refusing to furnish the electors with free whiskey. After two years on the governor’s council, he was sent to the Continental Congress in March 1780.
Five feet four inches tall and weighing about 100 pounds, small boned, boyish in appearance, and weak of voice, he waited six months before taking the floor, but strong actions belied his mild demeanour. He rose quickly to leadership against the devotees of state sovereignty and enemies of Franco-U.S. collaboration in peace negotiations, contending also for the establishment of the Mississippi as a western territorial boundary and the right to navigate that river through its Spanish-held delta. Defending Virginia’s charter title to the vast Northwest against states that had no claim to western territories and whose major motive was to validate barrel-of-rum purchases from Indian tribes, Madison defeated the land speculators by persuading Virginia to cede the western lands to Congress as a national heritage.
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Following the ratification of the Articles of Confederation in 1781, Madison undertook to strengthen the Union by asserting implied power in Congress to enforce financial requisitions upon the states by military coercion. This move failing, he worked unceasingly for an amendment conferring power to raise revenue and wrote an eloquent address adjuring the states to avert national disintegration by ratifying the submitted article. The chevalier de la Luzerne, French minister to the United States, wrote that Madison was “regarded as the man of the soundest judgment in Congress.”
- Early Years. James Madison was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia, to James Madison Sr. and Nellie Conway Madison. The oldest of 12 children, Madison was raised on the family plantation, Montpelier, in Orange County, Virginia.
- Father of the Constitution. After the colonies declared independence from Britain in 1776, the Articles of Confederation were created as the first constitution of the United States.
- Ratifying the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Once the new constitution was written, it needed to be ratified by nine of the 13 states. This was not an easy process, as many states felt the Constitution gave the federal government too much power.
- Bill of Rights. Madison was elected to the newly formed U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 1789 to 1797. In Congress, he worked to draft the Bill of Rights, a group of 10 amendments to the Constitution that spelled out fundamental rights (such as freedom of speech and religion) held by U.S. citizens.
Biography of James Madison, the 4th President of the United States and the “Father of the Constitution.” Learn about his life, achievements, and legacy as a leader in the ratification of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the War of 1812.
Apr 3, 2014 · Learn about the life and achievements of James Madison, the fourth U.S. president who wrote the Federalist Papers and sponsored the Bill of Rights. Find out how he supported a robust yet balanced federal government, initiated the War of 1812, and died on June 28, 1836 at Montpelier estate in Virginia.
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Learn about the life and legacy of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and the "Father of the Constitution". Explore his key events, political career, education, family, and papers from the Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Learn about the life and legacy of James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and the father of the U.S. Constitution. Explore his role in the Constitutional Convention, the War of 1812, and the American Colonization Society.
