Our fourth and shortest president, James Madison, was born in Port Conway, Virginia on March 16, 1751. He is the oldest of 12 children, and only 7 of them reached their adult years. His parents were Colonel James Madison Sr. and Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway. Most of this childhood was spent on the family's tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virgina. He then went on to attend and graduate from The College of New Jersey, known as Princeton University now. Where he finished their four year course in only two years, and was named America's first graduate student. On September 14, 1794 he married Dolley Payne Todd, even though she was 17 years younger than him. Dolley Madison is accredited with being the first ever First Lady, being the political ally and the president's advisor. The Madisons never did have any children of their own throughout their marrige.
James was a representative of the state of Virginia, and was often labeled as another Thomas Jefferson. He was a member of the Continental Congress, helped in framing the Virgina State Constitution and he was a member of the Virgina Assembly. He also, with the help of John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, wrote the Federalist Essays. These were one of the most important documents for the changing of the Constitution. Madison was frequently called the father of the constitution, he was also part of the "Founding Fathers". Although these men are assosiated with a new free country, many of them were slave owners or owned plantations which employed many slave workers. This group included men such as Richard Basset, William Blount, James Madison and even Benjamin Franklin, who later became an abolitionist. James beleived that the new America needed a system of checks and balances, and thought that they needed to go agaisnt the ideas of aristocracy and wanted the United States to be a republican country. He was one of the leaders in the House of Representatives and helped George Washington to put together and organize the new systems of government. He was the man who introduced our 3-branched government system which we have today. As mentioned before, he was our fourth president of the United States. His vice president was George Clinton and Elbridge Gerry, Secretary of State was Robert Smith and James Monroe and attorney generals Ceasar A. Rodney, William Pinkney and Richard Rush. Above all, James was known as and therefore named "Father of the Constitution".
James Madison had a great love for the United States, and wanted to keep it well and alive forever. He beleived in all men were created equal and deserved to be treated that way. He also supported the idea of the separation of church and state, James helped to write the Declaration of Religious Freedom with Thomas Jefferson. He wanted to separate from the Church of England and let people in the new country participate in whichever religion they wanted to. He also thought that the government was not as organized as well as it could be. With all the state governments often cancelling out one another, he advocated for one, united, government.
This great man deserves much more recognition than he currently recieves. Although his wife is extremely popular with many people, not a lot of people take the time out to look at his acheivements. Some historians are finally beginning to realize this, even some say he "Handles the war simliar to Lincoln's war time management" which is quite the compliment. Madison really showed England that America is not a force to be reckoned with and that even though it was still growing up, it was still a potential great country. He even gained respect for our rights from those countries like England and France across the Atlantic. What other president was able to come out of every disscusion they get into on the winning side. On a note opened after his death, James had written this, "What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."
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