MADISON 



3580 



MADISON 



writer, a man of varied and expert wisdom, a 

 good friend and a faithful officer of the govern- 

 ment. 



His Youth. James Madison was born at Port 

 Conway, King George County,*Va. His father, a 

 man of some local reputation, was a landowner 

 and had served in various minor county offices. 

 Young James had the advantage of consider- 

 able instruction at home, and in 1769 entered 

 the College of New Jersey (now Princeton Uni- 

 versity). At college he was a keen student of 

 ancient governments. He was graduated in 

 1771 and spent the next year in graduate study. 

 Returning then to his father's house he contin- 

 ued his voluminous reading in history and con- 

 stitutional law, his object apparently being to 

 prepare himself for public life. In 1774, when 

 he was only twenty-three years old, he accepted 

 his first political appointment, a membership of 

 the Committee of Safety of his county. For 

 more than forty years thereafter, except for one 

 brief interval, he was continuously in public 

 office. 



Long Service as a Legislator. In 1776 Madi- 

 son was a delegate to the Virginia convention 

 and a member of the committee to draft a state 

 constitution. In the work of this committee he 

 rendered valuable assistance to Thomas Jeffer- 

 son in his effort to secure complete religious 

 toleration. After the adoption of the constitu- 

 tion Madison was elected to the first general 

 assembly, and in 1777 was given a place in the 

 council of state by Patrick Henry, who was then 

 governor. By 1780 his prestige had grown to 

 such a degree that he was chosen as one of Vir- 

 ginia's delegates to the Continental Congress. 

 In the Congress he was conspicuous. Still 

 young, but prudent, sagacious and acute, he was 

 a statesman of a high order, and in influence was 

 second to none. His voice was authoritative on 

 the tremendous problems, both internal and ex- 

 ternal, which were vexing the newborn nation. 

 He insisted that Spain permit free navigation 

 of the Mississippi River by American vessels, 

 opposed the further issue of paper money by 

 the states, and strongly urged the extension of 

 the powers of Congress. In 1781, when Con- 

 gress was appealing to the states for power to 

 impose a small duty five per cent on impor- 

 tations, to add to the government's meager 

 funds, Madison spoke with a scholar's calm in 

 support of the measure. "It is needless," he 

 said, "to go into the proofs of the necessity of 

 paying the public debt ; the idea of erecting our 

 national independence on the ruins of the pub- 

 lic faith and the national honor must be horrid 



to every mind which retains either interest or 

 pride." 



From 1784 to 1786 Madison served in the Vir- 

 ginia assembly, but in 1787 was again elected 

 to the Continental Congress, and in the same 

 year was a delegate from Virginia to the Con- 

 stitutional Convention at Philadelphia. In that 

 body he rendered such noteworthy service that 

 he became known as the "Father of the Consti- 

 tution." He was the author of the "Virginia 

 plan," which provided that representation in 

 both branches of the national legislature should 

 be on the basis of population. This plan was 

 defeated, but Madison was instrumental in forc- 

 ing the delegates from the smaller states to ac- 

 cept representation by population for the House 

 of Representatives. After the adjournment of 

 the convention Madison performed a service 

 perhaps even more* valuable the writing of the 

 Federalist in cooperation with Alexander Ham- 



JAMES MADISON 

 First "war President" of the United States. 



ilton and John Jay. About one-third of these 

 essays were written by Madison (see FEDERAL- 

 IST, THE) . In addition to his other work in the 

 convention Madison took notes on the debates, 

 thereby creating an invaluable record in the 

 constitutional history of the United States. 



On his return to Virginia from Philadelphia 

 Madison was chosen a delegate to the state 

 convention which was to vote on the adoption 

 of the new Constitution. He led the support- 

 ers of the Constitution, and secured its ratifi- 

 cation. The Anti-Federalists, however, were 



