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MADISON, James
(1751–1836), fourth president of the U.S. (1809–17).
Known as the father of the Constitution because of his central role
in the Constitutional Convention, he was one of the founders of
the Jeffersonian Republican party in the 1790s, and he served as
secretary of state (1801–9) under Thomas Jefferson.
Madison was born in Westmoreland Co., Va., on March 16, 1751,
the son of a wealthy planter. He graduated from the College of New
Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1771 and in 1776 was elected
to the Virginia Convention, called to consider the relationship
of the colonies to Great Britain, at which he strongly urged independence.
From 1777 to 1780 he was a member of the Governor’s Council.
In 1780 he was elected to a 3-year term in the Continental Congress.
Although he was the youngest member, Madison quickly rose to a position
of leadership, working unsuccessfully, along with Alexander Hamilton
and others, to strengthen the central government by giving Congress
power to tax and to regulate trade. Madison entered the Virginia
legislature in 1783. An advocate of complete separation of church
and state, he succeeded in persuading the legislature to adopt the
Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom drafted by Thomas Jefferson.
Working with other proponents of a strong central government,
Madison was largely instrumental in persuading Congress to summon
a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation, or federal
constitution. At the convention, which met in Philadelphia in May
1787, Madison played a leading role. He drafted the Virginia Plan
(introduced by Edmund Randolph) that became the basis for the structure
of the new government. In accordance with his views, the Constitution
provided for a separation of powers with a system of checks and
balances. He was responsible for the creation of a strong executive
with a veto and a judiciary with power to override state laws. His
journal of the proceedings (pub. 1840) constitutes the sole record
of the debates. With Alexander Hamilton and John Jay he drafted
essays in defense of the Constitution to rebut those fearful of
centralized power. His argument that liberty would be more secure
in a large unit than in small ones because no group would be able
to form an absolute majority has been confirmed by subsequent experience.
In the Virginia Constitutional Convention Madison led the successful
fight for ratification against the opposition of Patrick Henry.
Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1789, Madison
sponsored the first ten amendments to the Constitution (known as
the Bill of Rights) to fulfill a pledge made during the fight over
ratification, when it was charged that the Constitution failed to
protect individual rights. In 1791 he broke with Alexander Hamilton
and the Federalists, opposing the fiscal policy of the Washington
administration. He joined Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe in founding
the Republican party to counteract the centralizing and aristocratic
tendencies of the Federalists then in power. In 1794 he married
Dolley Payne Todd (1768–1849), a widow, who is especially
remembered for her charm as a hostess during his presidency.
Madison retired from Congress in 1797. In the following year
he drafted the Virginia Resolutions, condemning as unconstitutional
the Alien and Sedition Acts, by which the Federalists had sought
to cripple their opponents. These resolves, echoing those drafted
by Jefferson and adopted by the Kentucky legislature, asserted the
right of the states to nullify federal laws. In 1799 and 1800 Madison
served in the Virginia legislature.
As secretary of state under Thomas Jefferson, he endeavored
without success to secure European recognition of principles of
neutral rights advanced by the U.S. during the Napoleonic Wars.
He also failed to persuade the British to abandon their interference
with U.S. trade and to cease impressment of American sailors on
the high seas.
Elected president in 1809 with 122 electoral votes to 47 for
the Federalist candidate Charles Pinckney, Madison approved the
repeal of the embargo by which Jefferson had tried to avoid war
through a ban on trade with the warring European powers. Tensions
between the U.S. and Britain continued, however, and Madison’s
conduct of foreign policy was increasingly criticized both by the Federalists
and by members of his own party. In 1812 Madison asked Congress
for a declaration of war against Great Britain. On the day that
war was declared (June 18, 1812), the British repealed their trade restrictions
(Orders in Council). Because they would not abandon impressment,
however, Madison refused to conclude a truce pending formal peace
negotiations.
The War of 1812 was badly managed by Secretary of War John
Armstrong (1758–1843), who failed to take seriously the
threat of a British invasion. When a British invasion force captured
Washington in 1814, Armstrong was replaced by James Monroe. Peace
negotiations at Ghent in Belgium resulted (December 1814) in a treaty
that settled none of the outstanding issues. Andrew Jackson’s
victory over the British at New Orleans, although it occurred after
the signing of the peace, was widely regarded as a vindication of American
arms in a war many considered a second American revolution.
In domestic affairs Madison yielded to the rising tide of
nationalist sentiment. Before leaving office he signed a bill for
a protective tariff and agreed to the chartering of a national bank
(the Second Bank of the United States), a measure he had vehemently
opposed in 1791. In foreign affairs his most important action after
the war was to negotiate an agreement (the Rush-Bagot Agreement)
for permanent demilitarization of the frontier between the U.S.
and Canada. The Rush-Bagot Agreement was ratified after Madison
left office.
Retiring to his estate, Montpelier in Orange Co., Va., Madison
avoided further participation in party politics but did express
his support for President Andrew Jackson when South Carolina revived
the controversy over nullification of federal laws in 1832. He helped
Jefferson found the University of Virginia and became its rector
in 1826. He was also a member of the Virginia Constitutional Convention
of 1829. Madison died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836.