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Born: March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia
Died: June 28, 1836, at Montpelier, Virginia
Father: James Madison
Mother: Nelly Conway Madison
Married: Dolley Payne Todd Madison (1768-1849),
on September 15, 1794
Children:
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Widely regarded as the "Father of the
Constitution", James Madison was able to break out of
the shadow of Thomas Jefferson fairly quickly and went on to
serve two fairly successful terms. Before his
presidency, James Madison was considered by many to be a
puppet to Thomas Jefferson who was pulling the strings
during the creation of the Constitution. While he was
certainly Jefferson's biggest supporter, Madison was a very
strong politician who was able to have a successful career
even after following one of the Founding Fathers.
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James Madison (1751-1836)
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At his inauguration, James Madison, a small, wizened man, appeared
old and worn; Washington Irving described him as "but a withered little
apple-John." But whatever his deficiencies in charm, Madison's buxom
wife Dolley compensated for them with her warmth and gaiety. She was the
toast of Washington.
Born in 1751, Madison was brought up in Orange County, Virginia, and
attended Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey). A student of
history and government, well-read in law, he participated in the framing of
the Virginia Constitution in 1776, served in the Continental Congress, and
was a leader in the Virginia Assembly.
When delegates to the Constitutional Convention assembled at
Philadelphia, the 36-year-old Madison took frequent and emphatic part in the
debates.
Madison made a major contribution to the ratification of the
Constitution by writing, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the Federalist
essays. In later years, when he was referred to as the "Father of the
Constitution," Madison protested that the document was not "the
off-spring of a single brain," but "the work of many heads and
many hands."
In Congress, he helped frame the Bill of Rights and enact the first
revenue legislation. Out of his leadership in opposition to Hamilton's
financial proposals, which he felt would unduly bestow wealth and power upon
northern financiers, came the development of the Republican, or
Jeffersonian, Party.
As President Jefferson's Secretary of State, Madison protested to
warring France and Britain that their seizure of American ships was contrary
to international law. The protests, John Randolph acidly commented, had the
effect of "a shilling pamphlet hurled against eight hundred ships of
war."
Despite the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which did not make the
belligerent nations change their ways but did cause a depression in the
United States, Madison was elected President in 1808. Before he took office
the Embargo Act was repealed.
During the first year of Madison's Administration, the United States
prohibited trade with both Britain and France; then in May, 1810, Congress
authorized trade with both, directing the President, if either would accept
America's view of neutral rights, to forbid trade with the other nation.
Napoleon pretended to comply. Late in 1810, Madison proclaimed
non-intercourse with Great Britain. In Congress a young group including
Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, the "War Hawks," pressed the
President for a more militant policy.
The British impressments of American seamen and the seizure of
cargoes impelled Madison to give in to the pressure. On June 1, 1812, he
asked Congress to declare war.
The young Nation was not prepared to fight; its forces took a severe
trouncing. The British entered Washington and set fire to the White House
and the Capitol.
But a few notable naval and military victories, climaxed by Gen.
Andrew Jackson's triumph at New Orleans, convinced Americans that the War of
1812 had been gloriously successful. An upsurge of nationalism resulted. The
New England Federalists who had opposed the war--and who had even talked
secession--were so thoroughly repudiated that Federalism disappeared as a
national party.
In retirement at Montpelier, his estate in Orange County, Virginia,
Madison spoke out against the disruptive states' rights influences that by
the 1830's threatened to shatter the Federal Union. In a note opened after
his death in 1836, he stated, "The advice nearest to my heart and
deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished and
perpetuated."
Recommended readings: (Click on the link to purchase)
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Title: James
Madison: A Biography || Author: Ralph Louis
Ketcham || ISDN: 0-81391-265-2 || Released: May
1990 |
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In this, the 250th anniversary year of James Madison's birth
(16 March 1751), I hope people will want to read more, and
know more, about "The Father of the Constitution"
and one of the most important Founding Fathers. And for a
serious, academic treatment (no, it is not 'pop' biography
or 'easy' reading) of Mr. Madison's life, thoughts, beliefs,
and accomplishments - this is the one book to read.
Yes, I happen to work at Montpelier, Mr. Madison's life-long
home and the home that he and his wife Dolley shared during
their marriage - and I can promise you that Dr. Ketcham's
well-worn, tabbed (it looks like a porcupine) book is our
'bible' when it comes to James Madison. There are other,
quite good, books about Madison but this is the one for a
thorough overview, from birth to death.
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Title: The
Last of the Fathers : James Madison and the Republican Legacy
|| Author: Drew R. McCoy || ISDN: 0-52140-772-9 || Released: July
1991 |
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Even though James Madison disliked and publicly condemned slavery,
this slave-owning president and Virginia planter does not get high
marks from most modern historians for his stance on that issue;
indeed, his support for extending slavery into the Western
territories has led some critics to call him a pro-slavery
expansionist. To Harvard historian McCoy, ``the Sage of
Montpelier'' was a prisoner of his republican idealism, tragically
tied to the conventions of his native soil. This apologetic,
revisionist biographical study will stir up controversy among
scholars. For the general reader, its focus on Madison's years of
retirement (from 1817 until his death in 1836) gives us a
prescient sage leery of the ``nullifiers'' who touted states'
inherent right to secede from the union. The mature Madison was
haunted by the specter of an industrializing society faced with
the prospect of mass unemployment and a poor, propertyless
class--problems that plague us today. Illustrations.
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