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James Madison was one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the United States and the "Father of the Constitution". As a leader in the first Congresses, he drafted many basic laws and was responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution, and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights".
Born in 1751, Madison was brought up in Virginia, and attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton). A student of history and government, well-read in law, he participated in the framing of the Virginia Constitution in 1776, served in the Continental Congress, and was a leader in the Virginia Assembly.
Madison became somewhat known as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson, attaining prominence in Virginia politics, helping to draft the Declaration of Religious Freedom. It disestablished the Church of England, and disclaimed any power of state compulsion in religious matters. He also persuaded Virginia to give its claims to northwestern territories - consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois - to the Continental Congress.
As delegate to the Continental Congress in 1780, Madison was considered a legislative workhorse and a master of parliamentary detail. Meanwhile, in the Virginia legislature, Madison soon grew alarmed at the fragility of the Articles of Confederation, and especially at the divisiveness of state governments. He strongly advocated a new constitution to overcome this divisiveness. These alterations would eventually become known as the proposition called the Virginia Plan.
At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the Virginia delegation took the initiative to frame the debate by immediately drawing up and presenting the proposal for a strong federal government that could overrule actions of the states when they were deemed mistaken. Edmund Randolph, another Virginia delegate officially put it before the convention on May 29, 1787, in the form of 15 resolutions. Though Madison was a shy man, he was one of the more outspoken members of the Continental Congress. Madison's draft of the Virginia Plan and his revolutionary three-branch federal system became the basis for the American Constitution of today.
To aid the push for ratification, Madison joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write the The Federalist Papers. Madison wrote Federalist No. 10, in which he explained how a large country with many different interests and factions could support republican values better than a small country dominated by a few special interests. His interpretation was largely ignored at the time, but in the 20th century became a central part of the pluralist interpretation of American politics.
Back in Virginia, Madison led the fight for ratification of the Constitution at the state's convention in 1788, oratorically dueling with Patrick Henry and others who sought revisions, such as the United States Bill of Rights, before its ratification. Patrick Henry successfully persuaded the Virginia legislature not to elect Madison as one of their first Senators. Madison was directly elected to the new United States House of Representatives and became an important leader from the First through the Fourth Congresses.
The anti-Federalists demanded a bill of rights in exchange for their support for ratification and over two hundred proposals were submitted from throughout the country. Madison ignored the proposals for structural change of the government, and synthesized the others into a list of proposals for the protection of civil rights, such as free speech and habeas corpus. Still ambiguous as late as 1788 in his support for a bill of rights, in June 1789 Madison offered a package of twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Madison "hounded his colleagues relentlessly" to accept his proposed amendments.
By the end of 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, and it did not apply to the states until the passages of Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments restricted the powers of the states. The second of the proposed twelve was ratified in 1992 as the Constitution's Twenty-seventh Amendment. The first of the proposed twelve, the "most valuable" in Madison's opinion, written to protect freedom of conscience, the press, and the right to trial by jury from the states, was eliminated by the Senate in 1791.
Madison's concepts of the federal Government changed radically from a nationally-oriented ally of Hamilton in 1787 to a states-rights-oriented opponent of a strong national government by 1795. Madison started with opposing Hamilton and by 1793 he was opposing Washington as well. Madison usually lost and Hamilton usually achieved passage of his legislation, including the federal funding of state and national debts. 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.
While Alexander Hamilton built a nationwide network of supporters that became the Federalist Party, and promoted a strong central government with a national bank, Madison and Jefferson organized the "republican party". These Jeffersonians, became known as the Democratic-Republican Party, opposing Hamilton's policies and the Federalists overall as centralizers and pro-British elitists who would undermine republican values.
In 1794, U.S. Senator Aaron Burr from New York introduced James Madison to Dolley Payne Todd, who was as attractive and vivacious a figure, as he was wirery and anti-social. On September 15, 1794, James and Dolley married. During her husband's political life, Dolley Madison was noted as a gracious hostess, whose sassy personality, love of feathered turbans, and passion for snuff seemed at odds with her Quaker roots. Dolley is largely credited with inventing the role of First Lady as political ally and adviser to the president.
As Secretary of State in 1801, Madison's main challenge 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. Madison and President Jefferson reversed party policy to negotiate for the Purchase and then win Congressional approval. Madison tried to maintain neutrality between Britain and France, but at the same time insisted on the legal rights of the U.S. under international law. Neither London nor Paris showed much respect, however. Madison and Jefferson decided on an embargo to punish Britain and France, forbidding Americans to trade with any foreign nation.
The party's Congressional Caucus chose presidential candidates, and Madison was selected in the election of 1808, easily defeating Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, riding on the coattails of Jefferson's popularity. Congress repealed the failed embargo as Madison took office as the 4th President 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 to block the Bank in 1791, and waited for its charter to expire. Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin wanted the bank rechartered, and when the War of 1812 broke out discovered how difficult it was to finance the war without the Bank. Gallatin's successor as Treasury Secretary Alexander J. Dallas proposed a replacement in 1814, but Madison vetoed the bill in 1815. By late 1815, however, Madison asked Congress for a new bank, which had strong support from the younger, nationalistic republicans such as John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay, as well as Federalist Daniel Webster. Madison signed it into law in 1816 and appointed William Jones as its president.
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, as unconstitutional, a bill for "internal improvements", including roads, bridges, and canals.
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"
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. But 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.
In 1829, at the age of seventy-eight, 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 draftsman. 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, on the grounds that this produced religious exclusion, but not political harmony.
Madison died at Montpellier in 1836, the last remaining signatory of the United States Constitution. In his final years he was increasingly ignored by the newer leaders of the American political establishment.
While no longer being printed by the U.S. Mint since 1969, the United States 5000 Dollar Bill, which began circulation in 1918, is adorned with Madison's presidential portrait and is still quite legal tender.
James Madison's claim on our admiration cannot rest on a perfect consistency, any more than it rests on his Presidency. He had 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.