space.template.James+Madison

=**James Madison**= James Madison was the 4th president of the United State of America. In office: March 4, 1809 -March 4,1817 Vice presidents:George Clinton(1809-1912) Elbridge Gerry(1813-1814) Preceded By:Thomas Jefferson Succeeded By:James Monroe Born:March 16,1751 Died:June 28,1836(Aged 58) Nationality:American Party:Democratic-Republican Spouse:Dolley Todd Madison Children:John Payne Todd(stepson) Alma mater:Princeton University Occupation:Lawyer Signature:
 * =James Madison life time line= ||
 * 1751 || (March 16) Born at Port Conway, Va. ||
 * 1779 || Elected to the Continental Congress. ||
 * 1787 || Served at the Constitutional Convention. ||
 * 1789 || Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. ||
 * 1794 || (Sept. 15) Married Dolley Payne Todd. ||
 * 1801 || Appointed Secretary of State. ||
 * 1808 || Elected President of the United States. ||
 * 1809 || Inaugurated as the 4th President of the United States. ||
 * 1811 || Cumberland Road was started as a program to improve canals, roads, and bridges. ||
 * 1812 || Louisiana became a state. ||
 * 1812 || Recommended war with Great Britain. ||
 * 1812 || Re-elected President. ||
 * 1812 || Congress organized the Missouri Territory. ||
 * 1812 || Napoleon invaded Russia, but had to retreat. ||
 * 1814 || Denmark gave Norway to Sweden. ||
 * 1814 || The White House was burned by the British. ||
 * 1814 || "The Star-Spangled Banner" was written by Francis Scott Key. ||
 * 1815 || Belgium united with the Netherlands to form a single country. ||
 * 1815 || Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo. ||
 * 1815 || Switzerland became independent of France. ||
 * 1816 || Indiana became a state. ||
 * 1816 || First Savings Banks were founded at Philadelphia and Boston. ||
 * 1817 || Congress organized the Alabama Territory. ||
 * 1817 || U.S. population was 8,900,000. ||
 * 1829 || Served at the Virginia Constitutional Convention. ||
 * 1836 || (June 28) Died at Montpelier, his family estate. ||

James Madison was born in [|Port Conway, Virginia] on March 16, 1751, (March 5, 1750,Old style Julian calender). 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. He later acquired still more property and became the largest landowner (5,000 acres) and leading citizen of Orange County. His mother, Nelly Conway (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. Madison had three brothers and three sisters who lived to maturity (by whom he had more than 30 nieces and nephews):
 * Francis Madison (1753–1800): planter of Orange County, Virginia
 * Ambrose Madison (1755–1793): planter and captain in the Virginia militia, looked after the family interests in Orange County; named after his paternal grandfather.
 * Catlett Madison (1758–1758): died in infancy.
 * Nelly Madison Hite (1760–1802)
 * William Madison (1762–1843): veteran of the Revolution and a lawyer, he served in the Virginia legislature
 * Sarah Catlett Madison Macon (1764–1843)
 * Unnamed child (1766–1766)
 * Elizabeth Madison (1768–1775)
 * Unnamed child (1770–1770)
 * Reuben Madison (1771–1775)
 * Frances "Fanny" Madison Rose (1774–1823)

From ages 11–16, A young "Jemmy" Madison studied under Donald Robertson, an instructor at the Innes plantation in King and Queen County, Virginia. Robertson was one of those tough-minded Scottish teachers who flourished in the southern states. From Robertson, Madison learned mathematics, geography, and modern and ancient languages. He became especially proficient in Latin. Madison says he owes 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. 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,[|[9]] 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, Madison remained at Princeton to study [|Hebrew] and [|political philosophy] under university president [|John Witherspoon] before returning to Montpelier in the spring of 1772. Madison studied law sporadically but never gained admission to the bar.

Madison returned to the Virginia state legislature at the close of the war. He soon grew alarmed at the fragility of the Articles of Confederation, particularly the divisiveness of state governments, and strongly advocated a new constitution. At the Philadelphia convention in 1787, Madison's draft of the Virgina plan and his revolutionary three-branch federal system became the basis for the American Constitution of today. Though Madison was a shy man, he was one of the more outspoken members of the Continental Congress. He envisioned a strong federal government that could overrule actions of the states when they were deemed mistaken; later in life he came to admire the US Supreme court as it started filling that role.

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: However, the [|anti-Federalists] demanded a bill of rights in exchange for their support for ratification. [|Patrick Henry] persuaded the Virginia legislature not to elect Madison as one of their first Senators; but Madison was directly elected to the new [|United States House of Representatives] and became an important leader from the First Congress (1789) through the Fourth Congress (1797). People submitted more than 200 proposals from across the new nation. Madison ignored proposals that called for structural change to the government and synthesized the remainder into a list for the protection of civil rights, such as free speech, right of the people to bear arms, 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 completed his change in position and "hounded his colleagues relentlessly" to accept the proposed amendments. 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, and it did not apply to the states until the passages of Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment 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 of the united states Constitution. The remaining proposal was intended to accommodate future increase in members of the House of Representatives.
 * 1) It was unnecessary, since it purported to protect against powers that the federal government had not been granted;
 * 2) It was dangerous, since enumeration of some rights might be taken to imply the absence of other rights; and
 * 3) At the state level, bills of rights had proven to be useless paper barriers against government powers.


 * ~ The Madison Cabinet ||
 * ~ Office ||~ Name ||~ Term ||
 * [|President] ||~ James Madison || 1809–1817 ||
 * [|Vice President] ||~ [|George Clinton] || 1809–1812 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|Elbridge Gerry] || 1813–1814 ||
 * [|Secretary of State] ||~ [|Robert Smith] || 1809–1811 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|James Monroe] || 1811–1814 ||
 * ^  ||~   || 1815–1817 ||
 * [|Secretary of Treasury] ||~ [|Albert Gallatin] || 1809–1814 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|George W. Campbell] || 1814 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|Alexander J. Dallas] || 1814–1816 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|William H. Crawford] || 1816–1817 ||
 * [|Secretary of War] ||~ [|William Eustis] || 1809–1813 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|John Armstrong, Jr.] || 1813–1814 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|James Monroe] || 1814–1815 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|William H. Crawford] || 1815–1816 ||
 * [|Attorney General] ||~ [|Caesar A. Rodney] || 1809–1811 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|William Pinkney] || 1811–1814 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|Richard Rush] || 1814–1817 ||
 * [|Secretary of the Navy] ||~ [|Paul Hamilton] || 1809–1813 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|William Jones] || 1813–1814 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|Benjamin W. Crowninshield] || 1814–1817 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|William Pinkney] || 1811–1814 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|Richard Rush] || 1814–1817 ||
 * [|Secretary of the Navy] ||~ [|Paul Hamilton] || 1809–1813 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|William Jones] || 1813–1814 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|Benjamin W. Crowninshield] || 1814–1817 ||
 * ^  ||~ [|Benjamin W. Crowninshield] || 1814–1817 ||

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. 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, of which the notes were the gem." Madison's financial troubles and deteriorating mental and physical health would continue to consume him.

As historian __Garry Wills__ wrote:
=Did you KNOW !!!=
 * < **"** || **__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."__** ||
 * 1) James Madison was the shortest President of the United State...
 * 2) He was on the 5,000 dollar bill...[[image:J_bill.jpg]]

3.