James Madison

Despite his accomplishments, Madison is perhaps the least known of the nation's Founding Fathers — although his contemporaries had a deep appreciation of his abilities and his contributions. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, one fellow delegate praised Madison as possessing both the intellectual depth of the scholar and the practical wisdom of the politician, and observed that he was involved in the "management" of every major issue. He was hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" by his peers, and scholars agree that no one had a greater role in shaping American Constitutional theory and in framing the particulars of representative government than James Madison. And, it was at his beloved Montpelier that James Madison's great investigation into the principles and ideas of government occurred. It was at Montpelier where he read, thought, and conceived of the foundation of democracy upon which our country still stands.

Early Years

James Madison was born in Port Conway, Virginia, on March 16, 1751. The oldest child in a family of twelve, James Madison grew up on his father's plantation, Montpelier, in Orange County, Virginia. In 1762, James Madison went to his first school, located in King and Queen County. At the age of 16, he returned to Montpelier to continue his education with a tutor. In August 1769, James began college at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), graduating in the spring of 1771.

Early Public Life

Madison began his 41 year political career in December 1774, when he was appointed to the Orange County Committe of Safety. In 1776 Madison was elected to the Virginia Convention in Williamsburg, which drafted Virginia's first state constitution. Over the years, Madison served as a delegate to the Virginia House of Delegates, was elected to the Second Continental Congress, and served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the spring of 1787, James Madison traveled to Philadelphia to attend the Constitutional Convention. Madison's dedication and hard work during the convention that drafted the U.S. Constitution earned him the title "Father of the Constitution" at the age of 36. In conceiving the Constitution, James Madison and his colleagues not only made a new system of politics, they created the very ideas of a Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Marriage

James was introduced to the Quaker widow Dolley Payne Todd in the spring of 1794. The summer courtship of James and Dolley was brief, and the couple married at Dolley's sister's home on September 15, 1794. James and Dolley were married for 41 years and never had children of their own. Dolley's first marriage had produced two children, and Dolley's son John Payne Todd was raised as James Madison's son.

The Washington Years

In March 1801, Madison was appointed Secretary of State under long-time friend and neighbor Thomas Jefferson. James and Dolley left Montpelier to live in Washington for the next 16 years. Madison served two terms as Secretary of State in the Jefferson administration, and then elected fourth President of the United States in 1808. During Madison's administration, war with Great Britain broke out in 1812. In 1814 British soldiers burned the White House, and the president and first lady made a narrow escape.

Retirement and Death

When James Madison's second term as president ended in 1817, he and Dolley retired to Montpelier. In retirement Madison stayed active and interested in politics. In 1819 Madison founded the American Colonization Society dedicated to freeing slaves and transporting them to the West Coast of Africa. Madison served on the board of visitors at the University of Virginia, and briefly came out of retirement at the age of 79 to attend the 1829 Virginia Constitutional Convention. On June 28, 1836, James Madison died at Montpelier at the age of 85, and he is buried in the Madison Family Cemetery on the mansion grounds.