James Madison

James Madison, Jr. (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817). He is widely regarded as the “Father of the Constitution” and the author of the United States Bill of Rights. He has been called the chief architect of the most important political experiment in human history(Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 N450 battery).

As with his good friend and political ally Thomas Jefferson, his most significant contributions to United States history came before his presidency. The United States Constitution is the world’s oldest written constitution, and is considered to be the most important document ever written in the history of freedom. The Constitution has been a model for other constitutions around the world ever since, and many of them read remarkably like America’s Constitution(Dell Inspiron Mini 1012 battery).

Madison wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, which was a series of 85 newspaper articles, which were published throughout the 13 states, and explained to the public how the proposed Constitution would work. Thomas Jefferson referred to the Federalist Papers as “the best commentary on the principles of government, which ever was written”. They are still the primary source today for jurists and legal scholars interested in the original understanding of the Constitution(Dell Vostro A860N battery).

Madison served in the first Congress under the new Constitution, and was considered to be the expert on the Constitution. George Washington frequently sought out Madison’s advice on the Constitution and matters of precedent.

As Jefferson’s Secretary of State (1801–1809), Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation’s size. As president, after the failure of diplomatic protests and an embargo, he led the nation into the War of 1812(Dell Vostro A860 battery), in response to England’s impressment of American seamen. Despite going up against a superpower of the day (England), and being a young nation without much of a military, America did better than might have been expected in this war. Despite the American Revolution, England had been treating America as if it were still a colony. After successfully standing up to England(Dell Vostro A840 battery), in this war, which has been called a second war for independence, celebrations resounded throughout America. Americans felt that their nationhood and honor had been vindicated, and a new era of growth, trade and prosperity began.

Madison's most distinctive belief as a political theorist was the principle of divided power. Madison believed that "parchment barriers" were not sufficient to protect the rights of citizens. Power must be divided, both between federal and state governments (federalism), and within the federal government (checks and balances) to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority(Dell Inspiron 1088N battery).

Although blocked by his foes from the Senate he became a leader in the new House of Representatives, drafting many basic laws. In one of his most famous roles he drafted the first ten amendments to the Constitution and thus is known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights". Madison worked closely with the President George Washington to organize the new federal government(Dell Inspiron 1088 battery). Breaking with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton 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, especially the national bank and the Jay Treaty. He co-authored, along with Thomas Jefferson, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts(Dell Vostro 1015N battery).

Early life

James Madison was born at Belle Grove Plantation near Port Conway, Virginia on March 16, 1751, (March 5, 1751, Old Style, Julian calendar). He grew up as the oldest of twelve children, of whom nine survived. His father, James Madison, Sr., (1723–1801) was a tobacco planter who grew up on an estate in Orange County, Virginia, which he inherited on reaching maturity(Dell Vostro 1015 battery). He later acquired still more property and, with 5,000 acres (20 km2), became the largest landowner and leading citizen of Orange County. His mother, Nelly Conway Madison (1731–1829), was born at Port Conway, Virginia, the daughter of a prominent planter and tobacco merchant. Madison's parents married in 1743. Both parents had a significant influence over their most famous oldest son(Dell Vostro 1014N battery).

Madison had three brothers and three sisters who lived to maturity (by whom he had more than 30 nieces and nephews).

Education

From ages 11 to 16, A young "Jemmy" Madison studied under Donald Robertson, an instructor at the Innes plantation in King and Queen County, Virginia. Robertson was a Scottish teacher who flourished in the southern states. From Robertson, Madison learned mathematics, geography, and modern and ancient languages(Dell Inspiron 1410 battery). He became especially proficient in Latin. Madison said that he owed his bent for learning "largely to that man (Robertson)."

At age 16, he began a two-year course of study under the Reverend Thomas Martin, who tutored Madison at Montpelier in preparation for college. Unlike most college-bound Virginians of his day, Madison did not choose the College of William and Mary because the lowland climate of Williamsburg might have strained his delicate health(Dell Vostro 1014 battery). Instead, in 1769 he enrolled at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).

Through diligence and long hours of study that may have damaged his health, Madison graduated in 1771. His studies there included Latin, Greek, science, geography, mathematics, rhetoric, and philosophy. Great emphasis also was placed on speech and debate. After graduation(Dell Vostro 2510 battery), Madison remained at Princeton to study Hebrew and political philosophy under university president John Witherspoon before returning to Montpelier in the spring of 1772. Afterwards, he knew Hebrew quite well. Madison studied law, but out of his interest in public policy, not with the intent of practicing law as a profession(Dell Vostro 1520 battery).

Marriage and family

James Madison married Dolley Payne Todd, a widow, on September 15, 1794, in what is now Jefferson County, West Virginia. Madison adopted Todd's one surviving son, John Payne Todd, after the marriage. Dolley Payne had been born May 20, 1768, at the New Garden Quaker settlement in North Carolina, where her parents, John Payne and Mary Coles Payne, lived briefly(Dell Vostro 1510 battery). Dolley's sister (Lucy Payne) had married George Steptoe Washington, a nephew of President Washington.

As a member of Congress, Madison had doubtless met the widow Todd at social functions in Philadelphia, then the nation's capital. In May 1794, he took formal notice of her by asking their mutual friend Aaron Burr to arrange a meeting. The encounter apparently went smoothly for a brisk courtship followed(Dell Vostro 1320 battery), and by August she had accepted his proposal of marriage. For marrying Madison, a non-Quaker, she was expelled from the Society of Friends.

Early political career

As a young man, Madison witnessed the persecution of Baptist preachers arrested for preaching without a license from the established Anglican Church. He worked with the preacher Elijah Craig on constitutional guarantees for religious liberty in Virginia. Working on such cases helped form his ideas about religious freedom. Madison served in the Virginia state legislature (1776–79) and became known as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson(Dell Vostro 1310 battery). He attained prominence in Virginia politics, helping to draft the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It disestablished the Church of England and disclaimed any power of state compulsion in religious matters. He excluded Patrick Henry's plan to compel citizens to pay for a congregation of their own choice.

Madison's cousin, the Right Reverend James Madison (1749–1812), became president of the College of William & Mary in 1777(Dell Latitude E4300 battery). Working closely with Madison and Jefferson, Bishop Madison helped lead the College through the difficult changes involving separation from both Great Britain and the Church of England. He also led college and state actions that resulted in the formation of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia after the Revolution(Dell Latitude 2110 battery).

James Madison persuaded Virginia to give up its claims to northwestern territories—consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota—to the Continental Congress, which created the Northwest Territory in 1783. These land claims overlapped partially with other claims by Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and possibly others(Dell Latitude 2100 battery). All of these states ceded their westernmost lands, with the understanding that new states could be formed from the land, as they were. As a delegate to the Continental Congress (1780–83), Madison was considered a legislative workhorse and a master of parliamentary coalition building. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for a second time from 1784 to 1786(Dell Latitude D830 battery).

Father of the Constitution

Montpelier Madison's tobacco plantation in Virginia

The Constitution is significant not only as a founding charter of the United States, and as a bulwark of freedom, but also in that the underlying assumptions are different from what preceded it. In the case of the Magna Carta the barons went to the king and demanded that he grant them rights. In the Constitution, the assumption is that the people already have those rights(Dell Latitude D820 battery). Madison and the other Founders referred to them as natural rights, in that they are inherent and universal to all men and not granted or conceded by the state or any other power.

The U.S. Constitution

“We the People” would found the government and specify exactly what powers it would have, not the other way around. This was upside down from what had been the norm in world history(Dell Latitude D810 battery).

Prior to the Constitution, the 13 states were bound together by the Articles of Confederation, which was essentially a military alliance between them used to fight the Revolutionary War. It didn’t work particularly well, and after the war was over, it worked even less well. Congress had no power to tax, and as a result was not paying the debts left over from the Revolution(Dell Latitude D800 battery). Madison and other leaders, such as Washington and Benjamin Franklin, were very concerned about this. They feared a break-up of the union and national bankruptcy.

As Madison wrote, “a crisis had arrived which was to decide whether the American experiment was to be a blessing to the world, or to blast for ever the hopes which the republican cause had inspired.” Largely at Madison’s instigation, a national convention was called in 1787. Madison was the only delegate to arrive with a comprehensive plan as to how to solve the problems of the Articles(Dell Latitude D630 battery). His plan became known as the Virginia Plan. The Virginia Plan immediately became the focus of all debate, and is the basis of the U.S. Constitution today.

The key element of the Constitution is divided power. Having just fought an eight-and-a-half-year war (the Revolutionary War) to get rid of too much concentrated power (a king), the Framers had no interest in recreating that, even with an elected government. So, they divided power(Dell Latitude D620 battery). They divided power between the federal government and the state governments. And, they divided power within the federal government, forming three branches.

The powers of Congress (in other words, federal powers) are enumerated (i.e., listed) in Article I, Section 8. All other powers are state powers or individual citizen powers. This is reiterated in the Bill of Rights (the 10th Amendment).

As Madison wrote, “The federal and state governments are in fact but different agents and trustees for the people, instituted with different powers, and designated for different purposes(Dell Latitude D610 battery).”

Madison expressed the overall challenge the Framers faced in this way, “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.” (Dell Latitude D600 battery)

Madison was the best-prepared delegate to come to the Constitutional Convention. In preparation for creating the Virginia Plan, he poured over crates of books that Jefferson sent him from France on every form of government ever tried. Historian Douglas Adair called Madison’s work “probably the most fruitful piece of scholarly research ever carried out by an American.” (Dell Latitude D520 battery)

Madison was a leader in initiating the Constitutional Convention, and he was the leading figure in it. Madison spoke over 200 times, and his fellow delegates rated him highly. For example, William Pierce wrote that “…every Person seems to acknowledge his greatness. In the management of every great question he evidently took the lead in the Convention … he always comes forward as the best informed Man of any point in debate(Dell Latitude D510 battery).” Historian Clinton Rossiter regarded Madison’s performance as “a combination of learning, experience, purpose, and imagination that not even Adams or Jefferson could have equaled.”

Federalist Papers

Main article: Federalist Papers

The Constitution as it came out of the convention in Philadelphia was just a proposal. It would have no effect until ratified by “We the People.” It was not ratified by the state legislatures. It was ratified by special conventions called in each state to decide that sole question – do we want to adopt this document, or don’t we(Dell Latitude D505 battery)?

Madison was a leader in the ratification effort. He, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay wrote the Federalist Papers, which were a series of 85 newspaper articles which were published throughout the 13 states to explain how the proposed Constitution would work. They were also published in book form and became a virtual debater’s handbook for the supporters of the Constitution in the ratifying conventions(Dell Latitude D500 battery).

Historian Clinton Rossiter called the Federalist Papers “the most important work in political science that ever has been written, or is likely ever to be written, in the United States.”

The ratification effort was not easy. Having just gotten rid to too much concentrated, centralized power, the states were leery of creating a powerful central government. Patrick Henry, who opposed the Constitution, feared that it would trample on the independence of the states and the rights of citizens(Dell Latitude D430 battery). In the Virginia ratifying convention, Madison, who was a terrible public speaker, had to go up against Henry, who was the finest orator in the country.

Virginia was one of the largest and most populous states. If Virginia didn’t ratify the Constitution, it would not succeed. Even though Henry was by far the more powerful and dramatic speaker, Madison won the debate with facts. Madison pointed out that it was a limited government that would be created, and that the powers delegated ‘to the federal government are few and defined(Dell Latitude D420 battery).”

Madison was given the honor of being called the “Father of the Constitution” by his peers in his own lifetime. However, he was modest, and he protested the title 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"(Dell Latitude D410 battery).

He wrote Hamilton at the New York ratifying convention, stating his opinion that "ratification was in toto and 'for ever'". The Virginia convention had considered conditional ratification worse than a rejection.

Author of Bill of Rights

Initially Madison "adamantly maintained ... that a specific bill of rights remained unnecessary because the Constitution itself was a bill of rights." Madison had three main objections to a specific bill of rights(Dell Latitude CPX battery):

It was unnecessary, since it purported to protect against powers that the federal government had not been granted;

It was dangerous, since enumeration of some rights might be taken to imply the absence of other rights; and

At the state level, bills of rights had proven to be useless paper barriers against government powers.

However, the anti-Federalists demanded a bill of rights in exchange for their support for ratification. Madison initially opposed the idea for the reasons stated above, but won the day for the Constitution by promising to add a bill of rights, and he came to be the author of it(Dell Latitude CPI battery).

A vengeful Patrick Henry used his power to keep the Virginia legislature from appointing Madison as one of the state’s senators. Henry even gerrymandered Madison’s home district, filling it with anti-federalists, in an attempt to prevent Madison from becoming a Congressman. Madison managed to win anyway, and became an important leader in Congress(Dell Latitude C840 battery).

People submitted more than 200 amendment proposals from across the new nation. Some urged Madison to forget about creating a bill of rights now that the country was up and running, but he kept his promise. He synthesized the proposals into a list of 12 proposed amendments and even “hounded his colleagues relentlessly” to accept the proposed amendments(Dell Latitude C810 battery).

Madison felt strongly that federal powers were limited by enumerating (making a list of) them (Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution). Anything not on the list was not a federal power. So then, by creating a bill of rights, the same would apply. Anything not on the list would be excluded(Dell Latitude C800 battery).

However, he also felt, as other Founders did, that Americans have countless natural rights – too many to put on a list. For example, the right to travel freely throughout the country, the right to have children, the right to sign a contract, the right to own land, etc. (none of which are listed in the Bill of Rights). How then to respond to the public clamor for a bill of rights? There would not be enough paper to list them all(Dell Latitude C640 battery).

Madison solved this dilemma with the 9th Amendment, which says that just because the Bill of Rights didn’t list them all does not mean that other rights of the people don’t exist.

By 1791, the last ten of Madison’s proposed amendments were ratified and became the Bill of Rights. Contrary to his wishes, the Bill of Rights was not integrated into the main body of the Constitution(Dell Latitude C610 battery), and it did not apply to the states until the passages of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments restricted the powers of the states. The Second Amendment originally proposed by Madison (but not then ratified: see United States Bill of Rights) was later ratified in 1992 as the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution. The remaining proposal was intended to accommodate future increase in the members of the House of Representatives(Dell Latitude C600 battery).

Opposition to Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was a loose constructionist who said the Constitution was designed to enable a government to operate, using implied powers. Madison and Jefferson were strict constructionists who wanted the text of the document to be construed to give the federal government less power(Dell Latitude C540 battery).

To Madison, the Constitution was written as a social compact in which “We the People” granted specific, limited powers to the federal government, as enumerated (i.e., listed) in Article I, Section 8. All other powers are reserved to the states or the people themselves.

Hamiltonians argued that the “general welfare” clause in the preamble was a general grant of power to the federal government for axrion to benefit the general welfare of the country(Dell Latitude C510 battery). The Madisonians countered that it would be an absurdity to have bothered to write up a specific list of federal powers if the preamble was to be considered a general grant power. Also, the preamble’s words were taken from the Articles of Confederation, and no one had ever interpreted that to have been a general grant of power.

The Hamiltonians focused on the “necessary and proper” clause. For example, since Article I(Dell Latitude C500 battery), Section 8 grants the federal government the power to tax, and a national bank would make it easier to collect taxes, then by the “necessary and proper” clause, a national bank was constitutional. The Madisonians said no--“necessary and proper,” was not “convenient and proper.” It may be more convenient to collect taxes with a national bank, but it is not necessary.

Both sides were inconsistent in the debates. Hamilton was consistently in favor of enlarging federal powers, and was more than willing to interpret the Constitution loosely to achieve this end(Dell Latitude C400 battery).

Madison, had actually argued for additional federal powers in the Constitutional Convention, but was willing to live with the Constitution as adopted and ratified. He considered the Constitution to be a social compact between the people and their government, and that fidelity to that agreement was critical to preventing abuse by officeholders(Dell Latitude 131L battery).

Ron Chernow finds Hamilton more consistent than Madison; Gary Rosen, find the opposite.

Some historians feel that the chief characteristic of Madison's time in Congress was his work to limit the power of the federal government. Wood (2006a) argued that Madison never wanted a national government that took an active role. He was horrified to discover that Hamilton and Washington were creating "a real modern European type of government with a bureaucracy(Dell XPS 1647 battery), a standing army, and a powerful independent executive". Chernow argues that "for Madison, Hamilton was becoming the official voice of wealthy aristocrats who were grabbing the reins of federal power. Madison felt betrayed by Hamilton but it was Madison who had deviated from their former reading of the Constitution." Specifically(Dell XPS 1645 battery), while Madison wrote in the Federalist number 44 that "No axiom is more clearly established in law or in reason than wherever the end is required, the means are authorized; wherever a general power to do a thing is given, every particular power for doing it is included", he opposed Hamilton's attempts to use article 1, section 8 of the Constitution in this way(Dell XPS 1640 battery).

Debates on foreign policy

When Britain and France went to war in 1793 the U.S. was caught in the middle. The 1778 treaty of alliance with France was still in effect, yet most of the new country's trade was with Britain. War with Britain seemed imminent in 1794, as the British seized hundreds of American ships that were trading with French colonies. Madison believed that Britain was weak and America was strong(Dell XPS 16 battery), and that a trade war with Britain, although risking a real war by the British government, probably would succeed, and would allow Americans to assert their independence fully. Great Britain, he charged, "has bound us in commercial manacles, and very nearly defeated the object of our independence." As Varg explains, Madison discounted the much more powerful British army and navy for "her interests can be wounded almost mortally(Dell XPS 13 battery), while ours are invulnerable." The British West Indies, Madison maintained, could not live without American foodstuffs, but Americans could easily do without British manufactures. This faith led him to the conclusion "that it is in our power, in a very short time, to supply all the tonnage necessary for our own commerce"(Dell XPS M140 battery).However, George Washington avoided a trade war and instead secured friendly trade relations with Britain through the Jay Treaty of 1794. Madison threw his energies into fighting the Treaty--his mobilization of grass roots support helped form the First Party System. He failed in both Senate and House, and the Jay Treaty led to ten years of prosperous trade with Britain (and anger on the part of France leading to the Quasi-War) All across the land voters divided for and against the Treaty and other key issues, and thus became either Federalists or Jeffersonian Republicans(Dell Inspiron Mini 12 battery).

First Party System

Hamilton built a nationwide network of Treasury supporters that became the Federalist Party and promoted a strong central government with a national bank. To oppose the Federalists, Madison and Jefferson organized the Republican Party. Madison led the unsuccessful attempt to block Hamilton's proposed Bank of the United States, arguing the new Constitution did not explicitly allow the federal government to form a bank(Dell Latitude E6500 battery). As early as May 26, 1792, Hamilton complained, "Mr. Madison cooperating with Mr. Jefferson is at the head of a faction decidedly hostile to me and my administration." On May 5, 1792, Madison told Washington, "with respect to the spirit of party that was taking place ...I was sensible of its existence"(Dell Latitude E6400 battery).

Adams years

In 1798 under President John Adams the U.S. and France unofficially went to war--the Quasi War, that involved naval warships and commercial vessels battling in the Caribbean. The Federalists created a standing army and passed laws against French refugees engaged in American politics and against Republican editors. Congressman Madison and Vice President Jefferson were outraged(Dell Latitude E5500 battery). Madison secretly drafted a resolution for Virginia declaring the Alien and Sedition Acts to be unconstitutional and noted that "states, in contesting obnoxious laws, should 'interpose for arresting the progress of the evil.'"This, according to Chernow, "was a breathtaking evolution for a man who had pleaded at the Constitutional Convention that the federal government should possess a veto over state laws(Dell Latitude E5400 battery)."

Some historians argue that Madison changed radically from a nationally oriented ally of Hamilton in 1787–88 to a states'-rights–oriented opponent of a strong national government by 1795 and then back to his original view while president. Madison started the first transition by opposing Hamilton;, by 1793 he reluctantly opposed Washington on some issues(Dell XPS M2010 battery). Madison opposed legislation that to his mind was clearly unconstitutional, such as Hamilton's proposed National Bank. He also opposed the federal assumption of state debts and the Jay Treaty, which many (including Washington), considered to be poorly negotiated. Madison succeeded in blocking a proposal for high tariffs(Dell XPS M1730 battery).

Most historians say that Madison abandoned strict constructionism in 1815, saying that it was not the text of the Constitution that mattered but the expressed will of the people. Despite attacks by "Quids" or "Old Republicans" such as John Randolph of Roanoke who still held to strict constructionism, Madison now favored a national bank, a standing professional army and a federal program of internal improvements as advocated by Henry Clay(Dell XPS M1710 battery).

Chernow feels that Madison's politics remained closely aligned with Jefferson's until the experience of a weak national government during the War of 1812 caused Madison to appreciate the need for a strong central government to aid national defense. He then began to support a national bank, a stronger navy, and a standing army. However, other historians, such as Gary Rosen(Dell XPS M170 battery), Lance Banning and Gordon S. Wood, see Madison's views as being remarkably consistent over a political career spanning half a century. Hamilton was consistently in favor of more federal power. Madison was consistently in favor of keeping faith with the Constitution.

United States Secretary of State 1801–1809

Further information: Louisiana Purchase and Embargo Act of 1807(Dell XPS M1530 battery)

The main challenge which faced the Jefferson Administration was navigating between the two great empires of Britain and France, which were almost constantly at war. The first great triumph was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, made possible when Napoleon realized he could not defend that vast territory, and it was to France's advantage that Britain not seize it(Dell XPS 1340 battery).

The original treaty of the Louisiana Purchase

Some historians, such as Ron Chernow, are quick to accuse Madison and President Jefferson of ignoring their "strict construction" view of the Constitution to take advantage of the opportunity. Jefferson would have preferred to have a constitutional amendment authorizing the purchase (in line with his strict-constructionist philosophy). However, Madison pointed out that it wasn't necessary(Dell XPS M1330 battery), even under a strict interpretation of the Constitution. Countries acquire territory in one of two ways: by conquest or by treaty. The Louisiana Purchase is a treaty (in other words, a contract between nations). Presidents are specifically authorized by the Constitution to negotiate treaties (Article II, Section 2), which is what Jefferson did. Recognizing the Louisiana Purchase as the land bargain of the century, the Senate quickly ratified the treaty(Dell XPS M1210 battery). The House, with equal alacrity, passed enabling legislation. Each branch of government performed its role as specified in the Constitution.

In the wars raging in Europe Madison tried to maintain neutrality between Britain and France, but at the same time insisted on the legal rights of the U.S. as a neutral under international law. Neither London nor Paris showed much respect, however. Madison and Jefferson decided on an embargo to punish Britain and France(Dell XPS GEN 2 battery), forbidding Americans to trade with any foreign nation. The embargo failed as foreign policy, and instead caused massive hardships up and down the seaboard, which depended on foreign trade. The Federalist made a comeback in the Northeast by attacking the Embargo, which was allowed to expire just as Jefferson was leaving office(Dell Vostro 1500 battery).

At the start of his term as Secretary of State he was a party to the Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison, in which the doctrine of judicial review was asserted by the high Court, much to the annoyance of the Jefersonians who did not want an independent, powerful judiciary.

The party's Congressional Caucus chose presidential candidates, and Madison was selected in the election of 1808, easily defeating Charles Cotesworth Pinckney(Dell Vostro 1400 battery).

Presidency 1809–1817

James Madison engraving from between 1809 and 1817

Bank of the United States

The twenty-year charter of the first Bank of the United States was scheduled to expire in 1811, the second year of Madison's administration. Madison failed in blocking the Bank in 1791, and waited for its charter to expire. Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin said the bank was a necessity; when he had to finance the War of 1812 he discovered how difficult it was to finance the war without the Bank(Dell STUDIO 1450 battery). Congress passed a bill chartering a second national bank in 1814, which Madison vetoed, because of the particulars of the legislation, rather than constitutional grounds.

The next year, in his annual address, Madison stated that a national bank might “deserve consideration.” Congress passed such legislation, which Madison signed. His strict-constructionist views were still firmly intact, but he acquiesced on the bank issue because it had “undergone ample discussions in its passage through the several branches of the Government(Dell Latitude D400 battery). It had been carried into execution throughout a period of twenty years with annual legislative recognition…and with the entire acquiescence of all the local authorities, as well as of the nation at large; to all of which may be added, a decreasing prospect of any change in the public opinion adverse to the constitutionality of such an institution(Dell Inspiron Mini 9 battery).”

Madison’s primary concern was that the Constitution would achieve the veneration he felt it deserved, and that the original understanding of its meaning by the ratifying conventions would be preserved. The Hamiltonians’ loose interpretation of the Constitution’s “general welfare clause” and “necessary and proper clause” had been the biggest threat to this(Dell Inspiron E1705 battery).

However, time had passed, the Democratic-Republicans had occupied the White House for four terms (Jefferson for two, and Madison for two), and Alexander Hamilton was dead. Hamilton’s political party, the Federalist Party, was on its way out of existence. Madison felt he could safely sign the bank bill (creating the Second Bank of the United States) without causing a fundamental change in constitutional meaning(Dell Inspiron E1505 battery).

War of 1812

Main article: War of 1812

British insults continued. Britain used her navy to prevent American ships from trading with France (with which Britain was at war). The United States, which was a neutral nation, considered this act to be against international law. Britain also armed Indian tribes in the Northwest Territory and encouraged them to attack settlers, even though Britain had ceded this territory to the United States in the Treaty of Paris(Dell Inspiron 9400 battery). Most insulting though was the impressment of American seamen on the high seas. British warships would run their guns out, force American merchant ships to heave to, then board the American ships, carry off American sailors and force them to serve in the Royal Navy. The United States looked upon this as no less an affront to American sovereignty than if the British had invaded American soil(Dell INSPIRON 9300 battery).

American diplomatic protests to Britain were ignored, and the embargo didn't work either. An angry American public elected a “war hawk” Congress, led by such luminaries as Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, who called for war. Madison had to choose between enduring further British insults, or war. He chose the latter, and asked Congress for a declaration of war, which Congress passed(Dell INSPIRON 9200 battery).

One argument by the war hawks was that an American invasion of British Canada would be easy (and would provide a good bargaining chip), which turned out to be far from true. A panel of scholars in 2006 ranked Madison’s failure to avoid war as the sixth worst presidential mistake ever made. The nation was not well prepared for war. Madison called on Congress to put the country “into an armor and an attitude demanded by the crisis,” specifically recommending enlarging the army, preparing the militia(Dell INSPIRON 9100 battery), finishing the military academy, stockpiling munitions, and expanding the navy.

Congress did take some of these steps, but voted to enlarge the army with five-year enlistments, which could not be obtained. More serious though, was Congress’ vote against Madison’s requests to enlarge the navy.

Britain was not ready for war either. It was heavily engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, most of the British Army was engaged in the Peninsular War (in Spain), and the Royal Navy was compelled to blockade most of the coast of Europe. The number of British regular troops present in Canada in July 1812 was officially stated to be 6,034, supported by Canadian militia(Dell INSPIRON 8600 battery).

In the ensuing War of 1812, the British forces from the Motherland and Canada, along with the First Nations allies won numerous victories, including the capture of Detroit after the American general there surrendered to a smaller force without a fight, and the occupation of Washington, D.C. While Madison was away from the White House attempting to rally the troops, his wife(Dell INSPIRON 8200 battery), Dolley was at the White House supervising efforts to get presidential papers, the White House silver and other valuables loaded into wagons and carried off to safety before the British arrived.

Dolley Madison is famous for her efforts in this crisis, and the pluck she showed. While directing the efforts of the White House staff, she dug out an old sword and propped it up against a wall, apparently determined to go down fighting if need be(Dell Inspiron 710m battery). She stayed there, working with the servants, after the army had pulled out and even the White House guards had evacuated. Seeing the life-sized portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart (and not wanting the British to destroy or capture it), she told the servants that they must take it down so it could be saved.

The anxious servants reported back to Mrs. Madison that the painting was not removable because it was bolted to the wall(Dell INSPIRON 700M battery). Her determined response was to order them to break the frame - the painting must be preserved. That famous painting and the other things she saved are the only things America has from the original White House. The rest was destroyed when the British arrived and burned it, leaving only the sandstone exterior walls. James Madison was on horseback for most of four days and nights during the skirmishing(Dell INSPIRON 7000 battery). When he finally was reunited with his wife, his cabinet and local citizens expressed amazement at the 63-year-old’s stamina.

The British armed American Indians in the West, most notably followers of Tecumseh who were defeated at the Battle of the Thames. At sea, the British blockaded most of the coastline, cutting off both foreign trade and domestic trade between ports. Economic hardship was severe in New Britain, but entrepreneurs built factories that soon became the basis of the industrial revolution in America(Dell Inspiron 6400 battery).

Madison faced formidable obstacles — a divided cabinet, a factious party, a recalcitrant Congress, obstructionist governors, and incompetent generals, together with militia who refused to fight outside their states. Most serious was lack of unified popular support. There were serious threats of disunion from New Britain, which engaged in massive smuggling to Canada and refused to provide financial support or soldiers(Dell INSPIRON 600M battery). However, by 1813, the main Indian threats in the South and West had been destroyed by Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison, respectively.

Despite being a young nation without much of a military, going up against one of the superpowers of the day, the United States did better than might be expected. There were impressive naval successes by American frigates and other vessels, such as the USS Constitution(Dell INSPIRON 6000 battery), USS United States, USS Chesapeake, USS Hornet, USS Wasp, and USS Essex. In a famous three-hour battle with the HMS Java, the USS Constitution earned her nickname, “Old Ironsides.”

The USS Constitution defeats HMS Guerriere, a significant event during the war.

The U.S. fleet on Lake Erie went up against a superior British force there and destroyed or captured the entire British Fleet on the lake. Commander Oliver Hazard Perry reported his victory with the simple statement, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours(Dell INSPIRON 510M battery).”

America had built up one of the largest merchant fleets in the world in the decade before the war. Many of these ships were authorized to become privateers in the war. They armed themselves and captured 1,800 British ships.

The courageous, successful defense of Ft. McHenry, which guarded the seaway to Baltimore, against one of the most intense naval bombardments in history (over 24 hours), led Francis Scott Key to write the poem which became the U.S. national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner(Dell INSPIRON 5100 battery).”

In New Orleans, Gen. Andrew Jackson put together a force of everyone he could find, including regular Army troops, militia, frontiersmen, Creoles, and even Jean Lafitte’s pirates. In the battle there, which took place two weeks after the peace treaty was signed (due to communication being slow), the Americans destroyed an entire British army(Dell INSPIRON 500M battery).

The Treaty of Ghent ended the war in 1815, with no territorial gains on either side, but the Americans felt that their national honor had been restored in what has been called “the Second War of American Independence.”

Postwar

With peace finally established, the U.S. was swept by a sense that it had secured solid independence from Britain. The Federalist Party collapsed and eventually disappeared from politics, as an Era of Good Feelings emerged with a much lower level of political fear and vituperation, although political contention certainly continued(Dell Inspiron 5000 battery).

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 the Bonus Bill of 1817 that would have financed "internal improvements," including roads, bridges, and canals(Dell INSPIRON 4000 battery):

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(Dell INSPIRON 3800 battery).

Madison rejected the view of Congress that the General Welfare provision of the Taxing and Spending 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(Dell INSPIRON 2600 battery).

Madison urged a variety of measures that he felt were "best executed under the national authority," including federal support for roads and canals that would "bind more closely together the various parts of our extended confederacy."

International

The Second Barbary War brought to a conclusive end the American practice of paying tribute to the pirate states in the Mediterranean and marked the beginning of the end of the age of piracy in that region(Dell Inspiron 2000 battery).

Administration and cabinet

Other courts

Madison appointed eleven other federal judges, two to the United States Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, and nine to the various United States district courts. One of those judges was appointed twice, to different seats on the same court.

States admitted to the Union

Louisiana – April 30, 1812

Indiana – December 11, 1816

Later life

Gilbert Stuart Portrait of James Madison c. 1821(Dell Inspiron 1720 battery)

When Madison left office in 1817, he retired to Montpelier, his tobacco plantation in Virginia; not far from Jefferson's Monticello. Madison was then 65 years old. Dolley, who thought they would finally have a chance to travel to Paris, was 49. As with both Washington and Jefferson, Madison left the presidency a poorer man than when he entered, due to the steady financial collapse of his plantation(Dell inspiron 1526 battery). Some historians speculate that his mounting debt was one of the chief reasons why he refused to allow his notes on the Constitutional Convention, or its official records which he possessed, to be published in his lifetime "He 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(Dell inspiron 1525 battery), of which the notes were the gem." Madison's financial troubles and deteriorating mental and physical health would continue to consume him.

In his later years, Madison also became extremely concerned about his legacy. He took to modifying letters and other documents in his possessions: changing days and dates, adding and deleting words and sentences, and shifting characters. By the time he had reached his late seventies, this "straightening out" had become almost an obsession. This can be seen by his editing of a letter he had written to Jefferson criticizing Lafayette(Dell Inspiron 1521 battery): Madison not only inked out original passages, but went so far as to imitate Jefferson's handwriting as well. In Madison's mind, this may have represented an effort to make himself clear, to justify his actions both to history and to himself.

During the final six years of his life, amid a sea of personal [financial] troubles that were threatening to engulf him...At times mental agitation issued in physical collapse. For the better part of a year in 1831 and 1832 he was bedridden(Dell Inspiron 1520 battery), if not silenced...Literally sick with anxiety, he began to despair of his ability to make himself understood by his fellow citizens.

A portrait of Madison, at age 82

In 1826, after the death of Jefferson, Madison followed Jefferson 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; this was to be Madison's last appearance as a legislator and constitutional drafter(Dell Inspiron 1764 battery). The issue of greatest importance at this convention was apportionment. The western districts of Virginia complained that they were underrepresented because the state constitution apportioned voting districts by county, not population. Westerners' growing numbers thus did not yield growing representation. Western reformers also wanted to extend suffrage to all white men(Dell Inspiron 1564 battery), in place of the historic property requirement. Madison tried to effect a compromise, but to no avail. Eventually, suffrage rights were extended to renters as well as landowners, but the eastern planters refused to adopt population apportionment. Madison was disappointed at the failure of Virginians to resolve the issue more equitably. "The Convention of 1829, we might say, pushed Madison steadily to the brink of self-delusion, if not despair. The dilemma of slavery undid him(Dell Inspiron 1464 battery)."

Although his health had now almost failed, he managed to produce several memoranda on political subjects, including an essay against the appointment of chaplains for Congress and the armed forces, because this produced religious exclusion, but not political harmony(Dell Inspiron 1420 battery).

Madison lived on until 1836, increasingly ignored by the new leaders of the American polity. He died at Montpelier on June 28, the last of the Founding Fathers to die. He is buried in the Madison Family Cemetery at Montpelier.

Legacy

James Madison was honored on a Postage Issue of 1894

"Madison Cottage" on the site of the Fifth Avenue Hotel at Madison Square, New York City, 1852(Dell Inspiron 1200 battery)

As historian Garry Wills wrote:

Madison's claim on our admiration does not rest on a perfect consistency, any more than it rests on his presidency. He has other virtues.... As a framer and defender of the Constitution he had no peer.... The finest part of Madison's performance as president was his concern for the preserving of the Constitution.... No man could do everything for the country – not even Washington. Madison did more than most, and did some things better than any. That was quite enough(Dell INSPIRON 1100 battery).

George F. Will once wrote that if we truly believed that the pen is mightier than the sword, our nation’s capital would have been called “Madison, D.C.”, instead of Washington, D.C.

Auction of books of James Madison's library, Orange County, Virginia, 1854

Montpelier, his family's estate and his home in Orange, Virginia, is a National Historic Landmark(Dell Inspiron N4010 battery)

Many counties, several towns, cities, educational institutions, a mountain range and a river are named after Madison.

Madison County - lists counties named for him

Cities: e.g. Madison, Wisconsin

The James Madison College of public policy at Michigan State University; James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia - its athletic teams are called the James Madison Dukes; the James Madison Institute was named in honor of his contributions to the Constitution(Dell N3010 battery).

The Madison Range was named in honor of the future President then U.S. Secretary of State by Meriwether Lewis as the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled through Montana in 1805. The Madison River in southwestern Montana, named in 1805 by Lewis & Clark.

Mount Madison in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains in New Hampshire is named after Madison(Dell HF674 battery).

Two U.S. Navy ships have been named USS James Madison and three USS Madison.

Madison's portrait was on the U.S. $5000 bill.

Madison Cottage in New York City was named in his honor shortly after his death. It later became Madison Square, with its numerous landmarks(Dell D6400 battery).