James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American politician and fourth President of the United States (1809–1817). He was one of the most influential Founders of the United States of America and became known as the "Father of the Constitution." In 1788, Madison coauthored The Federalist Papers, which remains the most influential commentary on the Constitution. He wrote the Constitution's Bill of Rights in 1791. Undergirding his politics was a fervent belief in republicanism as the new nation's overarching social and political value system.
As leader in the House of Representatives, he worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government. Breaking with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, Madison and Thomas Jefferson created the first Republican party
(later the Democratic-Republican party) in opposition to key policies of the Federalists, especially the national bank and Jay's Treaty. As Jefferson's Secretary of State (1801-1809), he supervised the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation's size, and sponsored the ill-fated Embargo of 1807. As president he led the War of 1812 against Great Britain. That conflict began poorly but ended on a high note in 1815 after which a new spirit of nationalism swept the country. During and after the war Madison reversed many of his positions and by 1815, he supported a national bank, a strong military, and a moderate tariff structure.
Early lifeMadison was born in Port Conway, Virginia on March 16, 1751 (March 5 according to the Old Style or Julian calendar). He was the oldest of twelve children, seven of whom reached adulthood. His parents, Colonel James Madison, Sr. (March 27, 1723 – February 27, 1801) and Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway (January 9, 1731 – February 11, 1829), were slave owners and the prosperous owners of a tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia, where Madison spent most of his childhood years. He was raised in the Church of England, the state religion of Virginia at the time. Madison's plantation life was made possible by his paternal great-great-grandfather, James Madison, who utilized Virginia's headright system to import many indentured servants, thereby allowing him to accumulate a large tract of land. Madison, like his forebears, owned slaves.
Madison attended in 1769-71 the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University), finishing its four-year course in two years; and continued to study with John Witherspoon for a year after graduating. He then returned home and collapsed into depression.
Political careerMadison served in the state legislature (1776-79) and became known as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. In this capacity, he became a prominent figure in Virginia state politics, helping to draft the state's declaration of religious freedom and persuading Virginia to give its northwestern territories (consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois) to the Continental Congress.
As a delegate to the Continental Congress (1780-83), he was considered a legislative workhorse and a master of parliamentary detail.
Father of the ConstitutionBack in the Virginia state legislature, he welcomed peace, but soon became alarmed at the fragility of the Articles of Confederation, and especially at the divisiveness of state governments. He was a strong advocate of a new constitution that would overcome this divisiveness. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, Madison's draft of the Virginia Plan and his revolutionary three-branch federal system became the basis for the American Constitution of today. Madison envisioned a strong federal government that would be the umpire that could overrule the mistaken actions of the states; later in life he came to admire the Supreme Court as it started filling that role.
Coauthor of Federalist Papers explaining the ConstitutionTo aid the push for quick ratification, he joined with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write The Federalist Papers. It immediately became the single most important interpretation of the Constitution, and remains so among jurists and scholars. Madison wrote the single most quoted paper, #10, in which he explained how a large country with many different interests and factions could support republicanism better than a small country where a few special interests could dominate. His interpretation has become a central part of the pluralist interpretation of American politics.
Back in Virginia in 1788, he led the fight for ratification of the Constitution at the state's convention—oratorically dueling Patrick Henry and others who sought revisions (such as the United States Bill of Rights) before its ratification. Madison is often referred to as the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in its drafting and ratification. However, he protested this designation as being "a credit to which I have no claim... [The Constitution] was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom, the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands".
He wrote Hamilton, at the New York ratifying convention, observing that his opinion was that "ratification was in toto and for ever". The Virginia convention had considered conditional ratification worse than a rejection.
Presidency 1809–1817British insults continued, especially the practice of using the Royal Navy to intercept unarmed American merchant ships and "impress" (conscript) all sailors who might be British subjects for service in the British navy. Madison's protests were ignored, so he helped stir up public opinion in the west and south for war. One argument was that an American invasion of Canada would be easy and would provide a good bargaining chip. Madison carefully prepared public opinion for what everyone at the time called "Mr. Madison's War", but much less time and money was spent building up the army, navy, forts, and state militias. After he convinced Congress to declare war, Madison was re-elected President over DeWitt Clinton but by a smaller margin than in 1808 (see U.S. presidential election, 1812). Some historians in 2006 ranked Madison's failure to avoid war as the sixth worst presidential mistake ever made[11].
In the ensuing War of 1812, the British won numerous victories, including the capture of Detroit after the American general surrendered to a smaller British force without a fight, and occupation of Washington, D.C., forcing Madison to flee the city and watch as the White House was set on fire by British troops. The British also armed American Indians in the West, most notably followers of Tecumseh. Finally the Indians were defeated and a standoff was reached on the Canadian border. The Americans built warships on the Great Lakes faster than the British and defeated the British fleet. At sea, the British blockaded the entire coastline, cutting off both foreign trade and domestic trade between ports. Economic hardship was severe in New England, but entrepreneurs built factories that soon became the basis of the industrial revolution in America.
After the defeat of Napoleon, both the British and Americans were exhausted, the causes of the war had been forgotten, and it was time for peace. New England Federalists, however, set up a defeatist Hartford Convention that discussed secession. The Treaty of Ghent ended the war in 1815. There were no territorial gains on either side as both sides returned to status quo ante bellum, that is, the previous boundaries. The Battle of New Orleans, in which Andrew Jackson defeated the British regulars, was fought fifteen days after the treaty was signed but before the news of the signing reached New Orleans. With peace finally established, America was swept by a sense of euphoria and national achievement in finally securing solid independence from Britain. The Federalist party fell apart and eventually disappeared from politics, as an Era of Good Feeling emerged with a much lower level of political fear and vituperation.
Although Madison had accepted the necessity of a Hamiltonian national bank, an effective taxation system based on tariffs, a standing professional army and a strong navy, he drew the line at internal improvements as advocated by his Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin. In his last act before leaving office, Madison vetoed on states-rights grounds a bill for "internal improvements", including roads, bridges, and canals:
Having considered the bill ... I am constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling this bill with the Constitution of the United States.... The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified ... in the ... Constitution, and it does not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among the enumerated powers. [12]
Madison rejected the view of Congress that the General Welfare Clause justified the bill, stating:
Such a view of the Constitution would have the effect of giving to Congress a general power of legislation instead of the defined and limited one hitherto understood to belong to them, the terms "common defense and general welfare" embracing every object and act within the purview of a legislative trust.
