Happy Birthday Little Jimmy
On March 16, 1751 (261 years ago today) James Madison Jr., the fourth President of the United States, was born at Belle Grove Plantation near Port Conway, Virginia. At the time, the Colony of Virginia (and the rest of the British Empire) was using the Julian calendar, which read March 5 on the day Madison was born. His mother Nelly had returned home to her parents' plantation to give birth to James Jr.
During the American Revolutionary War, Madison served in the Virginia state legislature where he was taken under the wing of Virginia's delegate to the Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson. He worked with the Baptist preacher Elijah Craig on constitutional guarantees for religious liberty in Virginia. Madison worked with Jefferson to draft the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was finally passed in 1786. It disestablished the Church of England and disclaimed any power of state compulsion in religious matters.
Today people call Madison the “Father of the Constitution” because he was instrumental in the drafting of the United States Constitution and was the author of the United States Bill of Rights. He served as a politician for most of his adult life. Madison inherited his plantation known as Montpelier, and owned hundreds of slaves during his lifetime to cultivate tobacco and other crops.
After the constitution was drafted, Madison became one of the leaders in the movement to ratify it. His collaboration with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay produced the Federalist Papers (1788). Circulated only in New York at the time, they would later be considered among the most important documents for interpretation of the Constitution. He was also a delegate to the Virginia constitutional ratifying convention, and was instrumental to the successful ratification effort in Virginia. Madison changed his political views during his life. During the drafting and ratification of the constitution, he favored a strong national government, though later he grew to favor stronger state governments. (Today those in politics might call that a "flip-flop", but back in those days people were allowed to change their mind.)
In 1789, Madison became a leader in the new House of Representatives, drafting many basic laws. He drafted the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government. In 1791, Madison and Thomas Jefferson organized what they called the Republican Party (later called by historians the Democratic-Republican Party) in opposition to key policies of the Federalists like Alexander Hamilton. He was especially opposed to the national bank and to the Jay Treaty made with Great Britain. He and Thomas Jefferson were the authors of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts created by John Adams.
Madison served as Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809 under Thomas Jefferson. He supervised the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation’s size. He succeeded Jefferson as President. When diplomatic protests and a trade embargo against Great Britain failed to end the British confiscation of American ships and sailors, he led the nation into the War of 1812. Madison found the war to be a huge problem. The United States did not have a strong army or navy, nor a strong financial system; as a result, he afterward supported a stronger national government and a strong military, as well as the national bank, which he had long opposed. The war didn't go so well at first, as the British invaded Washington, D.C. and burned down the White House. Subsequent victories including at the Battle of New Orleans resulted in a negotiated peace with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.
Madison left office in 1817, succeeded by his fellow Virginian James Monroe. He retired to his plantation called Montpelier in Virginia. He was 65 years old and saddled by debt. He died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836 at the age of 85 as the last of the Founding Fathers.
During the American Revolutionary War, Madison served in the Virginia state legislature where he was taken under the wing of Virginia's delegate to the Continental Congress, Thomas Jefferson. He worked with the Baptist preacher Elijah Craig on constitutional guarantees for religious liberty in Virginia. Madison worked with Jefferson to draft the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was finally passed in 1786. It disestablished the Church of England and disclaimed any power of state compulsion in religious matters.
Today people call Madison the “Father of the Constitution” because he was instrumental in the drafting of the United States Constitution and was the author of the United States Bill of Rights. He served as a politician for most of his adult life. Madison inherited his plantation known as Montpelier, and owned hundreds of slaves during his lifetime to cultivate tobacco and other crops.
After the constitution was drafted, Madison became one of the leaders in the movement to ratify it. His collaboration with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay produced the Federalist Papers (1788). Circulated only in New York at the time, they would later be considered among the most important documents for interpretation of the Constitution. He was also a delegate to the Virginia constitutional ratifying convention, and was instrumental to the successful ratification effort in Virginia. Madison changed his political views during his life. During the drafting and ratification of the constitution, he favored a strong national government, though later he grew to favor stronger state governments. (Today those in politics might call that a "flip-flop", but back in those days people were allowed to change their mind.)
In 1789, Madison became a leader in the new House of Representatives, drafting many basic laws. He drafted the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government. In 1791, Madison and Thomas Jefferson organized what they called the Republican Party (later called by historians the Democratic-Republican Party) in opposition to key policies of the Federalists like Alexander Hamilton. He was especially opposed to the national bank and to the Jay Treaty made with Great Britain. He and Thomas Jefferson were the authors of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts created by John Adams.
Madison served as Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809 under Thomas Jefferson. He supervised the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation’s size. He succeeded Jefferson as President. When diplomatic protests and a trade embargo against Great Britain failed to end the British confiscation of American ships and sailors, he led the nation into the War of 1812. Madison found the war to be a huge problem. The United States did not have a strong army or navy, nor a strong financial system; as a result, he afterward supported a stronger national government and a strong military, as well as the national bank, which he had long opposed. The war didn't go so well at first, as the British invaded Washington, D.C. and burned down the White House. Subsequent victories including at the Battle of New Orleans resulted in a negotiated peace with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent.
Madison left office in 1817, succeeded by his fellow Virginian James Monroe. He retired to his plantation called Montpelier in Virginia. He was 65 years old and saddled by debt. He died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836 at the age of 85 as the last of the Founding Fathers.