James Madison

James Madison played a major role in shaping the United States in its formative years and is probably more noted for his system of checks and balances in the central government and his part in framing the U.S. Constitution than for his presidency. His keen political insight and philosophy continue to guide American policies in present times.

Virginia background

Madison was born on March 16, 1751. He was raised in Orange County, Virginia , on a large, slave-owning plantation. He received a strong education and graduated from Princeton University (then called the College of New Jersey) in 1771. Since his teachers were clergymen, he was well versed in Christian thought, but he also took an avid interest in the European philosophers of the Enlightenment, an intellectual movement of the eighteenth century, who promoted human reason as the path to a better, more balanced society.

American Revolution

In 1776, Madison participated in the Virginia convention that drew up a resolution for independence from Britain and drafted a new state constitution. In 1780, he was elected to represent Virginia in the new nation's Congress. At twenty-nine, he was Congress's youngest member.

The Congress Madison entered was not like Congress today. During the American Revolution (1775–83), the Articles of Confederation had been adopted to structure a union among the former colonies. The Articles provided the original thirteen states (Connecticut , Delaware , Georgia , Maryland , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , North Carolina , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , and Virginia) with far more power than the central government. Madison, along with statesmen Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) and George Washington (1732–1799), believed that the regions of the United States would have to unite under a strong central government to maintain independence from Europe. Their position became known as federalism . Opponents of federalism feared that a strong national government would threaten the freedom of individuals.

Framing the Constitution

A convention to improve the Articles of Confederation was called in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1787. Madison submitted a plan to replace the Articles altogether. Known as the Virginia Plan, it called for three separate sections of government: the executive branch , the legislative branch , and the judicial branch . Each would have well-defined powers that would guard against any one branch becoming stronger than the others. The national government would possess broad general powers, while the states would possess local powers.

One of the first of many debates at the Constitutional Convention was over Madison's concept of a president as leader of the executive branch. Many Americans worried that with a powerful leader and a strong central government, they would return to the kind of tyranny they had experienced under the English king and parliament.

Another area of conflict was whether each state should have an equal vote in the central government or if each state should be represented according to its population. The small states feared that the large ones would unfairly outweigh them. Madison supported representation according to population. A compromise was proposed, creating a legislature consisting of two houses, one in which each state would be represented according to population (the House of Representatives), and one in which each state would have equal representation (the Senate). Both sides finally accepted this “Great Compromise,” which became the basis for today's Congress.

For Madison, the Constitutional Convention represented a period of almost superhuman effort. He gave more than two hundred speeches and kept a complete record of the entire convention. Writing tirelessly, he took notes in shorthand all day long, then recopied them at night. Because of this achievement, history has a nearly perfect account of the shaping of the Constitution.

On September 17, 1787, the final draft of the Constitution was approved. It was ratified (approved by two-thirds of the states) the following year. Although the Constitution was the result of many compromises, its basis could be found in the checks and balances system of Madison's Virginia Plan.

Bill of Rights

Two years after the adoption of the Constitution, a movement began for a bill of rights, a list of the rights and privileges guaranteed by the Constitution (such as freedom of speech, press, and religion, and the right to a fair trial). Madison assumed leadership of the movement, introducing the subject to the House of Representatives in June 1789. After lengthy debate, the House agreed to place the Bill of Rights in a series of amendments to the Constitution. In March 1792, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) announced that these ten amendments, now known as the Bill of Rights, were in effect.

Clash of the Federalists

During the ratification process of the Constitution, Madison cooperated with Hamilton and John Jay (1745–1829) on a series of essays called The Federalist (commonly known as the Federalist Papers) in 1787 and 1788, with the purpose of explaining and promoting the new Constitution. When Madison entered the House of Representatives in 1789, however, he soon found himself opposing Hamilton, the secretary of the treasury. Now on opposite sides, the two Federalists differed on how much power could appropriately be wielded by the new central government. Madison joined Jefferson in opposing Hamilton's proposal for federal assumption of state debts and a national bank, arguing that the president lacked the constitutional authority to initiate them. With Jefferson, he formed a party—the Democratic-Republican Party —to combat the power of Hamilton's Federalist Party .

Presidency and war

Madison served as secretary of state under President Jefferson and was then elected president (serving from 1809 to 1817). As Jefferson's secretary of state, Madison oversaw the Louisiana Purchase , a $15 million purchase from France that nearly doubled the size of the United States. During Jefferson's second term, a conflict between Britain and France began to involve neutral American ships. The British practice of impressment , whereby American sailors were kidnapped and forced to serve in the Royal Navy, aggravated relations. The troubles only grew in Madison's first years as president. In June 1812, he asked Congress to declare war on Britain. The ensuing conflict, the War of 1812 (1812–15), lasted for two and a half years. At first, the U.S. military was inadequate to the task, and in August 1814 the British burned much of the new capital city, Washington, D.C. Finally, under General Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), the United States defeated the British at New Orleans.

In his final two years as president, Madison proposed several innovative programs. The building of canals and roads and the establishment of a national university and a new national bank were among his most important recommendations. By the time his second term ended, the United States was stronger and Americans were reveling in war-inspired nationalism. His wife, Dolley Madison (1768–1849), was one of the most fashionable and popular presidents’ wives in history.

Retirement

Madison retired to Virginia after his term in the White House, taking part in Virginia politics from time to time. He died on June 28, 1836, the last of the nation's founding fathers.