James Madison | |||||||
The “Father of the Constitution” and the US’s fourth president began as the son of one of Virginia’s wealthiest landowners. At the College of New Jersey at Princeton (now Princeton University), Madison was first exposed to the works of the Scottish Enlightenment, such as David Hume and Adam Smith. Such coursework lead him to a lifelong career in politics. His first contribution to US politics was his defense of freedom of religion as a right, not a privilege, at the Virginia Convention of 1777. He continued along this vein, finally passing the Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom in 1785 while at the Virginia House of Delegates. Madison is referred to as the father of the Constitution because of his involvement in its formation. Helping to write the Federalist papers, he was one of the strongest voices for a federal Constitution. His extensive notes from the Constitutional Convention are the most thorough and lasting record we have today on this meeting. In addition, on being elected to the House of Representatives, he wrote a set of nineteen amendments to the Constitution, ten of which were approved and ratified as the Bill of Rights. His defense of individual freedoms continued with his election to the Virginia Assembly in 1799, which he ran for to defend Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, written to protest infringements of the rights and liberties of Virginians. At the House he also lead the revolt against Alexander Hamilton’s fiscal policy and British leanings in international affairs. Jefferson, elected president in 1801, appointed Madison Secretary of State during their “Revolution of 1800,” in which the two attempted to strip the government to it’s bare necessities, abolishing things such as internal taxes. He remained in this position for both of Jefferson’s terms. Elected president himself in 1808 and again in 1812, Madison may be most known for the War of 1812, hampered by poor leadership and unprepared troops. His last years in office, surprisingly, gave way to several measures he formerly strongly opposed, including the re-chartering of a national bank and the imposition of a protective tariff. However, in true Madison style, one of his last acts as President of the United States was to veto a bill as unconstitutional that provided tax money for roads and canals. Related Links The Avalon Project at Yale Law School The American Revolution: James Madison Resources by James Madison |
