James+Madison

“Nothing more than a change of mind, my dear” (Sheehan). This quote was once said by a very wise man known as James Madison. The man was just five feet and four inches short and was considered the father of the United States Constitution. He was a man who although suffered a lot, he also accomplished a lot. Which is why I chose to write about him.

James Madison was born in 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia. (Colleen.) He grew up on a plantation called Montpelier in Virginia, which later on became his home. (Kelly.) He had three brothers and 3 sisters. (Kelly.) He was such an excellent student. (Kelly.) Madison was also the first in his family to attend college. (Wood.) He attended the college of New Jersey, which is now known as Princeton University. (Colleen.) In college Madison revealed an intellectual intensity and earnestness he never lost. (Wood.)

While Madison was in school, he studied history, classics, moral philosophy, politics and law. (Colleen.)Although in 1772 he returned to his father’s plantation, depressed and worried about his health, with no plans for a career or what so ever. (Wood.) He left Princeton, in the Spring of 1773, with health much impaired by intense study and immediately entered upon a course of reading preparatory for the practice of law which he had chosen for a profession. (Vinci.) He refused to travel to Europe for example, for fear that he might have an attack and fall into the sea. (Wood.) Realizing the strong prejudice against epilepsy, referred to his moderate seizures as an “experience.” (Wood.) The Revolution brought him out pf his doldrums and started his political career, a career his father’s slave-based plantation wealth supported. (Wood.) He worked with Gov. Thomas Jefferson for several months in 1779, and, Madison said, “an intimacy took place” that began a lifelong friendship between the two Virginians. (Wood.)

James Madison was married to a young woman named Dolley Payne Todd. She was a widow from a quaker background. (Kelly.) Dolley was a well-liked hostess throughout Thomas Jefferson’s and James Madison’s time in office. (Kelly.) Therefore James Madison was married to such a tenacious woman after she decided to not leave the White House during the war of 1812, until she assured that many national treasures were saved. (Kelly.) They had no children while married. (Colleen.) Nevertheless on one occasion, Madison worked himself to exhaustion despite the protests of his dearest friends. (Colleen.) Madison is commonly called the “Father of the constitution.” But his detractors tended to mock his short stature with nicknames such as “Little Jemmy.” (McNamara.)

James Madison was regarded as “The man without a personality” (Kelly). Although he was known for not having a personality, he did, I mean everybody has a personality. The personality of James Madison is described as a shy introvert. He disliked speaking to a group (Gaye). He was a small, elegant and dapper man who wore fashionable and elegant clothes. He was very friendly and helpful to his surroundings (Wood). He was also in power in a very difficult time. Therefore he was very courageous and determined. (Vinci). Some regarded him as weak and indecisive. Although others agreed with Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin, who said, “Mr. Madison is slow in taking his ground, but firm when the storm rises” (DeGregorio). He was a tremendous hardworking man who wanted the best for his country (Gaye). He was also a very intelligent man because without his intelligence, knowledge, and his patriotism he wouldn’t have accomplish anything (McNamara). In our modern world of mass-media, he would certainly have never become president (Sheehan). In my opinion, he did very good in being a very calm person, because he thought threw everything very deeply before doing anything and that saved them from making a huge mistake. Although everything mentioned about him, he is my favorite president.

There is two different kinds of obstacles. One of them is the obstacles you go through throughout your life without having a choice, the second kind of obstacles are the ones you decide to go through by yourself to accomplish something you want. I personally can’t imagine sleeping three hours out of twenty-four hours. Yet, Mr. Madison would sleep only three hours a day while attending Princeton (McNamara). All of those sleepless nights were actually worth it, because no other delegate was better prepared for the Federal Convention of 1787. Therefore no one contributed more than Madison to shaping the ideas and contours of the document or to explaining it’s meaning (Sheehan). He may not have been quite the “creative genius” that they claim he was, but no one can deny his importance. Even through the most difficult circumstances he always tried to make sense of what he was doing (Wood).

Madison wanted for him and his generation of American Founders to discover the way to rescue popular government for its past failures (Gaye). Madison ran in an election to attend Virginia’s provincial convention which he barely won (Wood). He has dedicated himself throughout his life “to the cause of liberty” (Sheehan). Madison wanted to make change, and change everything by speeches, debates of the propitious gathering (Sheehan). One problem that Madison couldn’t deal with was slavery. Although he believed it was “the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man,” he realized the political opposition to abolition was too great, and he hoped against hope that time would solve the problem (Wood). Even after all of these obstacles Madison went through, he still found a way to become the person we now know him by.

James Madison was in power during an important time (Kelly). He was elected to attend Virginia’s provincial convention, the body that brought about the Revolution in Virginia and wrote its state constitution, and in 1777 he was elected to the eight-man Council of State that shared executive authority with the governor (Wood). During the Revolutionary years, Madison served in the General Assembly of Virginia, the Continental Congress, and the Congress under the Articles of Confederation (Sheehan.) In Madison is generally regarded as the father of the United States Constitution. Madison did earn that nickname by writing most of the United States Constitution at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Even though he would later write the Virginia Resolutions which were hailed by anti-federalists, his Constitution created a strong federal government. Once the convention ended, he along with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton wrote the //Federalist Papers,// essays that were intended to sway public opinion to ratifying the new constitution (Sheehan).

Following the adoption of the Constitution, Madison was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia. During the administration of George Washington Madison served in Congress and became closely allied with Thomas Jefferson, who was serving as secretary of state. When Jefferson won the election of 1800, Madison was appointed secretary of state. He was involved in the purchase of the Louisiana Purchase, the decisions to fight the Barbary Pirates, and the Embargo Act of 1807, which grew out of tensions with Britain. Thomas Jefferson supported Madison’s nomination run in 1808. James Madison was also the 4th president of the United States. George Clinton was chosen to be his Vice President. Madison defeated the Federalist candidate Charles Pinckney of South Carolina in the election of 1808. The electoral vote was not close, with Madison winning 122 to 47. In 1812 Madison ran for a second term and defeated DeWitt Clinton of New York. Clinton was actually a member of Madison’s own party, but ran as a Federalist, essentially with a platform opposing the War of 1812 (McNamara). As previously described, America participated in the War of 1812, sometimes called the Second War of independence, during Madison’s time in office (Vinci). Even though America did not end the War of 1812 as the ultimate “victor,” it did end with a stronger and independent economy (Kelly). At the beginning of Madison’s administration, he attempted to enforce the Non-Intercourse Act. This allowed the US to trade with all nations except France and Great Britain because of the attacks on American shipping by those two nations (McNamara). As the author of the Constitution, decisions made during his time as president were based on his interpretation of the document. He was well respected in his time for not only authoring the document but also administering it (Vinci).

Kelly, Martin. "James Madison-4th president of the United States" //James Madison |4th president of the United States.// 2014. //American History.// Web. 11 Jan. 2015. **SE#2**

**McNamara, Robert.** "James Madison: Significant Facts and Brief Biography" //James Madison |Facts and Brief Biography.// 2015. //History1800s//. Web. 29 Jan. 2015. **SE #6**

Sheehan, Colleen"James Madison : Father of the constitution." //The// //Heritage Foundation. 8// April 2013. //Heritage.// Web. 7 Jan. 2015. **SE#1**

Vinci, John. "James Madison" //Colonialhall//. 24 Nov. 2004. //Colonialhall.// Web. 27 Jan. 2015. **SE#5**


 * Wilson, Gaye** . "James Madison" //The Jefferson Monticello//. 29 Aug. 2014. //Monticello.// Web. 26 Jan. 2015. **SE #4**

Wood, Gordon. "American Architect 'James Madison'." //The New York Time////s//. 1 May. 2014. NyTimes. Web. 15 Jan. 2015. **SE#3**