MADISON 



3581 



MADISON 



1809 OF 1817 



JAMES MADISON 



DECLARATION 



OF 



WA R 



The Second War 



for 

 American Independe 



Admitted _ 



to 

 Union, 1812 



Admitted 



to 

 Union, 1816 



Battle Between the Constitution and the Guerriere 



strong enough to prevent his election to the 

 Senate, but he was elected to the House of Rep- 

 resentatives, his opponent being James Monroe. 

 During the eight years of Washington's Presi- 

 dency, 1789-1797, Madison served in the House. 

 At first a Federalist, he later opposed many of 

 the administration's policies and became the 

 leading ally of Jefferson. Washington in 1794 

 offered him the Secretaryship of State, but the 

 offer was declined because Madison was satis- 

 fied with his position in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives. There the direction of business was 

 left largely to him. He proposed the resolu- 

 tions creating the departments of State, the 

 Treasury and War, proposed a series of amend- 

 ments to the Constitution out of which grew 

 the existing first ten amendments, and had con- 

 siderable voice in framing the first tariff act. 

 In short, much of the principal legislation of 

 the period was either drafted or introduced by 

 him. 



The Virginia Resolutions. For four years, 

 1797 to 1801, broken only by a few months of 

 service in the Virginia assembly, Madison lived 

 in comparative retirement at his home. During 

 these years he wrote occasionally for the press, 

 and made one remarkable contribution to po- 



litical literature. This contribution is generally 

 known as the Virginia Resolutions (see KEN- 

 TUCKY AND VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS), which were 

 adopted by the Virginia assembly in 1798 as a 

 protest against the Alien and Sedition laws in 

 particular and the extension of Federal au- 

 thority in general. These resolutions were trans- 

 mitted to the authorities of the other states, 

 and the replies of the latter were referred to a 

 legislative committee of which Madison was 

 chairman. It is worthy of note that of the 

 seven states which replied only one, Vermont, 

 denied Madison's view that the Union was a 

 compact between sovereign states. 



Madison as Secretary of State. For a num- 

 ber of years Madison had been regarded as Jef- 

 ferson's chief lieutenant. It was natural, there- 

 fore, when Jefferson became President, for him 

 to appoint Madison his Secretary of State. For 

 eight years the latter directed the nation's for- 

 eign affairs with a wise and steady hand. This 

 was a period of changing conditions, at home 

 and abroad, which demanded constant watching. 



By far the most troublesome problems which 

 confronted Madison concerned the attitude of 

 England toward certain accepted principles of 

 international law. In dealing with these prob- 



