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James Madison was the 4th president, another in a long line of Virginian-born presidents. He was not an imposing man and in our modern world of mass-media, he would certainly have never become president. It was his mind that set Madion apart an his colleagues recognized this. Madison was a close associate of Thomas Jefferson. Madison is best known for his role in creating the Constitution. And one of the most unlikely political partnerships in American history, Masison and Alexander Hamilton, were largely responsivle for ratification. He had led the fight in Congress against creating a U.S. Navy. The emerging Republican Party he led were hostile to both a standing army and even the existence of a navy. Ironically, while the Federalists avoided war, President Madison was the first president to ask for a declaration of war and led a largely unprepared counrty into the War of 1812 with the British.
The Madison family was one of the oldest and most prestigious in Virginia.
James was born in 1751. He grew up on a 5,000 acre tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia, He was called "Little Jemmy and was small of stature. Even as an adult he only weighed 140 pounds.
James from a very early age demonstrated a keen mind. He had byahe 11 reportedly read ever book in his farher's library, one of the largest in Virginia. He did not attend school, there were no public schools in Virginia at the time. Instead, his father secured the services of a Scottish tutor. James thus studied langiages (French, Latin, and Greek). French and Latin were languages most educated American colonists studies, Greek was a more difficult undertaking and the sign of a particularly educated individual. He also studied history, philosophy (a subject with a more expansive definition at the time), theology, and law. Madison as an older man remarked, "All I have been in life I owe largely to that man." Madison at age 19 went north to attended Princeton University which was then called the College of New Jersey. He was especially interested in history. Government was only one of his many intrests, but he was well-read in law. He completed the 3-year course in 2 years.
James Madison was a small unimposing man, virtualy the anthisis of Washington. He was painfully shy. He disliked speaking to a group. [Labunski] One writer Washington Irving has described him as "but a withered little apple-John." He had little of the personal charm of another Virginia president, his friend and mentor Thomas Jefferson. In our modern world of mass-media, he would certainly have never become president. Some believes that his deficiencies were also compensated by Madison's charming wife--Dolley. Her personal warmth and gaiety made her the toast of Washington society.
Madison despite his youth played an important, but not major role in the Revolution. Madison with his academic background in history and government participated in the crafting of the Virginia Constitution (1776). He was a Virginia delegate in the Continental Congress. He became a leader in the Virginia Assembly.
No one played a larger role in the crafting of the Constitution than the the 36-year-old delegate from Virginia. He had his friend Thomas Jefferson ship whatever books on government he could find. He was especially nterested in works on the Roman Republic. He subjected the task of creating a new government to a detailed assessment and stufy. As strange as ut may seem for sch a momentius task, he was the only delegate to arrive with a detailed draft for a new constitution. His olan becamevknown as the "Virginia Plan". He also played a major role in the debates. Madison served on the important Committe on Postponed Matters which reolved some of the most difficult unreolved issues. [Berkin] Madison also played a key role in getting the Consitution ratified. Along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, he penned what has become known as the Federalist Papers which argued powerfully for the new Consttution. Hamilton would emerge as the country's leading Federalist. Madison would be a leader of the emerging Republicans. Yet the two cooperated closely to secure ratification. Many assoiciates including Jefferson were suspicious of the ptoposed Constitution. His role led him to be called the "Father of the Constitution". Madison was to later disagree that the resulting document was not "the off-spring of a single brain," but "the work of many heads and many hands."
Madison was elected to the new Federal Congress from Virginia. He played a critical role in framing the Bill of Rights. [Labunski] This was in response to many of the criticisms leved against the Costitution during the debates over ratificaton. The Bill of Rights has of course become the central political protection ensuring civil liberties in the United States. Madison also helped enact the first Federal revenue legislation. This was a major step in that one of the major weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation was the inability of the Federal Government to cllect taxes. Madison allied with Jefferson played a major role in the development of party politics and the Demoratic Part--called the Republicans or Democratic Republicans at the time. Madison opposed many of the financial measures proposed by Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Madison believed that Hamilton's program gave disproprtionate wealth and power to northern financiers.
Following Thomas Jefferson's victory in the election of 1800, the new presidebt appointed Madison Secretary of State. The major issue that faced Madison as Secretary of State was the Napoleonic Wars which were raging in Europe. The to major combatant naval powers, France and Britain, began seizing American ships which was contrary to international law at the time. Most of the sizures were carried out by the British, but thee were also seizures by the French and Spanish. There were cries for wat, but Jefferson and Madison refused to go to war. Eventually Embargo Act of 1807 was passed. The goal was to make the belligerent nations stop the seizures. It did not, but it did cause a depression.
Despite the unpoularity of the Embago Act, Madison won the election of 1808. The United States during the first year of the Administration prohibited trade with both Britain and France which were still locked in the the Napoleonic Wars. Britain by the time of the Madison presidency had established naval dominance with Nelson's victory at Trafalgar (1805). Congress in May 1810, attemted a new approach. They authorizeds trade with both Britain and Frnce. The new law directed the President, if either beligerant would accept the America's position on neutral rights, to prohibit trade with the other county. Napoleon accepted the American offer which was understanable given Bitish control of the eas. President Madison, as a result, proclaimed in 1810 "non-intercourse" with Britain.
Some of the most ardent nationalists in Congress, led by a group of young Congressmen including Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun called the "War Hawks," insisted that Madison adopt a more militant policy. New England Federalists dependent on commerce, opposed the war talk. Some even talked of secession. Continued British impressment of American seamen and the seizure of
American vessels and cargoes finally caused Madison to relent. Madison on June 1, 1812, requested that Congress declare war. Britain had one of the most powerful military establishments in the world and after two decades of war the British militry was highly proifessional and expiencd. America had only a small military force and was compleletly unprepared to confront a major milotary power. The British adopted a strategy of striking in the north, central coast, and south. Miraculously they were defeated on Lake Erie by a force under the command of Oliver Hazzard Perry. Along the central coast they entered Washington and burned the White House and the Capitol. (The White House got its name when it was painted white to coverd the burned exterior.) The British were unable to take Baltimorebecause of Fort Mc Henry. (It was here the Star Spangled Banner was penned.) Madison as a Congressman had led the fight to block the creation of a navy (1794). Now the frigates built for the fledling U.S. were a rare source of strength in facing the British. [Toll, pp. 43-44.] Gen. Andrew Jackson defeated a British force trying to seize New Orleans. There were significant political consequences of the War. There was a widespread upsurge of nationalism. The New England Federalists were thoroughly repudiated in the popular national upsurge. Federalism as a result disappeared as a national party.
Madison had no children of his own. Dolly had two childrem from a previous marriage. One child died just before the two married. The remaining child, John Payne Todd (1792-1852) may well have been the worst ptresidential kid in history. Dolley loved him and her husband out of devition to her tolerated his behaviior. The problems began as a boy and by the time he was a young man he was a wanton drinker, gambler, and thief. Madison placed him on a diplomatic delegatiion which he embarassed because of his carousing. The Presuident was constantly paying the debts he incured from his constant indiscretions. He would disappear for months, only writing his mother when he needed money. Madison hid some of the debts from hisife to save her the pain and embarassement. When Madison died, he attempted to steal the President's papers from his mother so he could sell them.
Aftr the presidncy, Madison retired to Montpelier, his estate in Orange County, Virginia. In hi later years, Madison criticized the increasingly vocal advocates of states' rights who by the 1830s were increasingly threatening the the American Republic, primarily over the increasingly emotional issue of slavery. A note opened after Madison died in 1836 read, "The advice nearest to my heart and deepest in my convictions is that the Union of the
States be cherished and perpetuated."
Berkin, Carol. A Brilliant Sollution: Inventing the American Constitution.
Labunski, Richard. James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights. Pivotal Moments in American History series.
Toll, Ian W. Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy (W.W. Norton: New York, 2006), 569p.
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