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James Madison, the 4th President of the United States, died on June 28, 1836, 177 years ago today. He died in Orange, Virgina at the age of 85.
His latter years weren't kind to the man considered to be the father of the Constitution. When Madison left office in 1817, he retired to Montpelier, his tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia. Madison was 65 years old at the time and his wife Dolley was 49. She had hoped to to travel to Paris, but as with all of his predecessors, Madison left the presidency a poorer man than when he entered. The low price of tobacco and his stepson's mismanagement of the plantation accelerated his financial woes.
Madison refused to allow his notes on the Constitutional Convention, or its official records to be published in his lifetime. According to biographer Garry Willis, Madison "knew the value of his notes, and wanted them to bring money to his estate for Dolley's use as his plantation failed—he was hoping for one hundred thousand dollars from the sale of his papers, of which the notes were the gem." In his later years, Madison became extremely concerned about his historic legacy. He modifed letters and other documents in his possession, changing dates and adding and deleting words and sentences.
During the last six years of his life, Madison's physical health deteriorated along with his ecobnnomic health. For about twelve months beginning in 1831 and carrying on to 1832 he was bedridden. In 1826, after the death of Jefferson, Madison was appointed as the second Rector ("President") of the University of Virginia. It would be his last occupation. He retained the position as college chancellor for ten years until his death in 1836.
In 1829, at the age of 78, Madison was chosen as a representative to the constitutional convention in Richmond for the revising of the Virginia state constitution. Madison was very concerned about the continuing issue of slavery. He believed that transportation of freed slaves to Africa offered a solution, as promoted by the American Colonization Society. But like most African Americans of the time, Madison's slaves wanted to remain in the U.S. where they had been born and they resisted efforts to return them to Africa.
In his last years Madison wrote several memoranda on political subjects, including an essay against the appointment of chaplains for Congress and the armed forces. He felt it would produce religious exclusion but not political harmony. Between 1834 and 1835, Madison sold 25% of his slaves to make up for financial losses on his plantation. Madison found himself increasingly ignored by the new leaders of the nation. He died at Montpelier on June 28, considered to be the last of the Founding Fathers. He was buried in the Madison Family Cemetery at Montpelier.
