THE CONSTRUCTIVE STATESMAN 191 



The clause in the bill of rights, as finally adopted at 

 his suggestion, accordingly declares that " all men are 

 equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, accord- 

 ing to the dictates of conscience." The incident illus- 

 trates not only Madison's liberality of spirit, but also 

 his precision and forethought in so drawing up an 

 instrument as to make it mean all that it was intended 

 to mean. In his later career these qualities were 

 especially brilliant and useful. 



Madison was elected a member of the first legisla- 

 ture under the new state constitution, but he failed 

 of reelection because he refused to solicit votes or 

 to furnish whiskey for thirsty voters. The new 

 legislature then elected him a member of the govern- 

 or's council, and in 1780 he was sent as delegate to 

 the Continental Congress. The high consideration 

 in which he was held showed itself in the number 

 of important committees to which he was appointed. 

 As chairman of a committee for drawing up instruc- 

 tions for John Jay, then minister at the court of 

 Madrid, he insisted that in making a treaty with 

 Spain our right to the free navigation of the Missis- 

 sippi River should on no account be surrendered. 

 Mr. Jay was instructed accordingly, but toward the 

 end of 1 780 the pressure of the war upon the Southern 

 states increased the desire for an alliance with Spain 

 to such a point that they seemed ready to purchase 

 it at any price. Virginia therefore proposed that the 

 surrender of our rights upon the Mississippi should 

 be offered to Spain as the condition of an offensive 

 and defensive alliance. Such a proposal was no 

 doubt ill advised. Since Spain was already, on her 

 own account and to the best of her ability, waging 



