The Federalist; Biography of Madison

This document supports The Federalist, a production of LeftJustified Publiks.

"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."

JAMES MADISON was perhaps the hardest working & most widely respected man of his day. Commonly hailed as the Father of our Constitution, Madison had more to do with its conception than did any other man. A strong Republican, he was later elected President of the United States. Born in to an aristocratic family in Port Conway, Virginia, he was the eldest of 12 children. He entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1769. He graduated in 1771, completing a four year degree in two years. He then studied theology, history, & law, both at the college & on his own. His public career began in 1774 when he was appointed a member of the King George County Committee for Public Safety in Virginia at the age of 23. Madison spent the rest of his life in service to his nation.

In 1776 he was a member of the Virginia constitutional committee, a body that drafted Virginia's first constitution & a Bill of Rights which later became a model for the Bill of Rights amended to the U.S. Constitution. Madison very actively supported religious toleration & was a leading advocate for the separation of church & state. In this work he found a life-long partner & friend in Thomas Jefferson.

In 1779 Madison was elected to represent the state of Virginia to the Continental Congress. He established himself as a leader in congress & as a tireless advocate for a federal structure. In 1785 he had an opportunity to exercise the respect & influence he had earned in support of a federal government. Washington & Madison organized the Alexandria Conference in order to settle commercial dispute between Virginia & Maryland concerning the use of the Potomac River. The conference was a great success. When the Maryland delegation suggested a larger meeting to include representatives from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, & Virginia in order to adopt a uniform commercial system, Madison saw the potential for a larger scheme. He felt that a meeting of all the states should follow in order to explore all commercial concerns & to amend the Articles of Confederation. The Annapolis Convention met in 1786 with much arguing & little result. Only five states attended. Madison & Hamilton took this opportunity to launch a general call for a constitutional convention. They persuaded the presiding delegates to endorse a meeting to "take into consideration the situation of the United States." They later persuaded the Continental Congress, reluctant though is was, to endorse this conference—but only for the purpose of modifying the Articles of Confederation.

This became the Constitutional Convention, & though George Washington was appointed by Virginia to lend prestige to the effort, James Madison would be its leader.
The convention opened on May 25th, 1787. Representatives from Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, & South Carolina were in attendance. New Hampshire did not send its delegation until later, & Rhode Island refused to participate. In the entire proceeding only 55 men attended. The work they accomplished, & conditions under which they worked, were quite remarkable. Among the first resolutions passed were two very important measures: the proceeding would be held in secret &, a simple majority, rather than a nine state majority, would be sufficient to pass articles into law. Without these provisions, the convention would never have succeeded. Most of the delegates had been instructed by their state legislatures that they were allowed only to modify the Articles of Confederation. Had these men been subject to the scrutiny of the press & to continuous instruction from thier respective state governments, the convention would have collapsed in short order. Madison immediately set the tone for the convention by introducing a document that he wrote called The Virginia Plan.
The Virginia Plan was a radical departure fr om the stated intentions of the convention. It called for a strong central government "consisting of a supreme Legislature, Executive, & Judiciary." It provided for a national legislature consisting of two houses: one elected directly by the people, the other appointed by the first from a body of nominees submitted by state legislatures. Representation in these bodies would be based on the population of the states. It provided for an Executive to be elected by this national legislature. It also defined a national judiciary & a "Council of Revision" charged with reviewing the constitutionality of legislation. This plan was so very creative, & was presented so persuasively by Madison & his supporters that it proceeded to pass into law within days. It was not until June 15th that states' rights supporters were able to present an alternative. Presented by William Paterson, a New Jersey lawyer, it was referred to as The New Jersey Plan.
This proposal would preserve the essential nature of the Articles of Confederation but gave the National Congress strong powers to tax & regulate trade. Most important to those concerned with states' rights was the feature that would protect the smaller states from being overwhelmed by the large ones: one state, one vote. The delegates listened politely to this proposal for four days & then voted it down. Only Delaware, New York, & New Jersey voted in favor.

Although Madison prevailed on the structure of the new federal government, he could not quell the concerns of the smaller (or more lightly populated) states. There was a general concern that Virginia would be able to dictate to the other states, given proportional representation. Debate on this issue was fierce & finally, on July 2nd, a Grand Committee was selected to resolve these issues. Each state selected one member & Mr. Franklin was appointed to chair. By July 12th a compromise had been reached: referred to ever since as the Grand Compromise. The upper house (the Senate) would feature equal representation for each of the states. The lower house would be based on proportional representation. The formula called for one representative for every 40,000 inhabitants of a state. The compromise on this point was that slaves, who were not otherwise considered, would count as three fifths of a freeman. This restored some advantage to the southern states. With these allowances the convention was able to continue.
A Committee of Detail was formed on July 26th. They prepared the first draft of a new constitution, based on the Virginia Plan, & presented it to the convention for debate on August 6th. A month of debate followed. Delegates hammered out the exact language of each article through painstaking argument. Here, specifics of the Executive were worked out. The various states had learned from experience the value in a strong executive. Where the Virginia Plan stipulated an executive elected by the Legislature, the constitution created an independent Executive selected through a mechanism called the Electoral College. This Executive would also have veto power over the Legislature, & would appoint Judges to the courts, although these appointments were subject to review by the Senate.
There was another cloud hanging over the convention: the issue of slavery. Late in August a new confrontation developed on the floor of the convention. Delegates from some of the northern states were intent on eliminating, or at least limiting, slavery. They thought that the constitution would be an ideal vehicle to do this. Madison commented in his private notes that "It seemed now to be pretty well understood that the real difference lay, not between the large & small but between the N. & Southn. States. The institution of slavery formed a line of discrimination." A second major factor of the Grand Compromise, when all was finally settled, was that slavery was actually protected by the constitution (Article 4, section 2 "No person held to service or labor...") The delegates further resolved that the slave trade would be left alone for another twenty years.

Madison had been a driving force in the formation of the Constitution, from organizing the convention, setting its scope & tone, to ironing out every obstacle that threatened its success. Through it all he took copious notes in his own personal shorthand. These notes constitute our best & most complete record of the events of that summer in 1787. Because of the great public controversy & the freedom of exchange of the floor debate (owing to secrecy), he swore not to make these journals public until most of the people involved had passed away. So it was that the notes were not published until the 1830's, more than forty years after the fact. Madison continued to champion the federal cause at every opportunity. About a third of the Federalist Papers are from his pen.

Madison was elected to the first House of Representatives as a Federalist & served throughout Washington's administration (1789—1797). He fought, sometimes bitterly, with Hamilton concerning economic policy. As a trusted consultant to George Washington, Madison played a large part in forming the Departments of State, Treasury, & War. His most important work during these years was the promotion of a Bill of Rights that would form the first ten amendments to the constitution. In close correspondence with Thomas Jefferson (who was none too pleased with the over-all tone of the constitution) he determined to remedy some of the shortcomings that resulted from compromises reached at the convention. It is very likely that the Constitution would not have been ratified were it not for a solemn & oft-repeated promise that the Bill of Rights would soon follow. In fact, the Bill was moving rapidly through the process in the states as the Constitution was ratified, & was adopted within six months of the Constitution.

When John Adams was elected President, Madison retired to his home in Virginia. He wrote the Virginia Resolutions, protesting against the Alien & Sedition Acts. These four measures, adopted in 1798, were the first overt challenges to such personal liberties as had been established by the constitution. They provided for:

• a naturalization act requiring residence of 14 years before foreigners could become citizens. This seemed to critics to be a clear effort to keep immigrating Irishmen, who tended to vote Republican, away from the polls for about 14 years.

• an alien act allowing the deportation by executive order of any non-citizen that the president found "dangerous to the peace & safety of the United States".

• an alien enemies act, by which subjects of an enemy nation might be deported or imprisoned in wartime. This act was limited to two years, & as Adams never declared a state of war, it expired.

• a sedition act, stipulating criminal prosecution for conspiracy against the government or for interfering with its operations. This law, as entrusted to the federal courts for enforcement, defined nearly any criticism of the federal government or any member of it as a criminal libel. It had a chilling effect on citizens as well as the press.

Until the adoption of these laws, citizenship had been the business of each state. The provisions against aliens were a reaction to the revolutionary movements in Europe. Federalists were very concerned that popular revolutions that might threaten the federal government would find a voice in the United States. The Sedition Act, however, was the point of greatest outrage. The aggressive attitudes of the Washington, & now Madison, administrations toward "popular discontent" & expressions of disagreement or contempt for the government had placed a doubt in many minds whether the first amendment would be honored. The Alien & Sedition Acts seemed to be in clear violation of the constitution. Madison was the author of the Virginia Resolutions, a protest of these acts & an effort to overrule their effect at the state level. Jefferson also wrote a package, the Kentucky Resolutions, with the same objective.

In 1801, after Jefferson was elected President, Madison entered the Cabinet as Secretary of State. This was a period of rapid growth & change. He was deeply involved in many of the federal reforms executed by Thomas Jefferson, many of which were intended to reverse the effects of federalist rule. Jefferson, in his close friendship with Madison, also recognized that Madison was a thoroughly practical man whose political skills would be of great value to the reforms he would pursue.
James Madison succeeded Jefferson as President in 1808. He was, at the time, the only man who could carry forward the mantle of Republicanism, but he inherited from Jefferson a deeply troubled Presidency in a dangerous world. France & Britain were locked in struggle of domination. Each took advantage of the United States as it was struggling with its own problems. Madison the delegate was widely loved & respected for his reason, even temper, & humility. As President, however, he was expected to dominate those around him. From appearances, at least, he was unable to do this. He was also very accustomed to living by his wits, as he so amply demonstrated in his roles as representative & Secretary. Thus he often made judgments in foreign relations too quickly—not realizing that he would be lied to or mislead by agents of the European contestants. Britain & France were preying on merchants, citizens, & mariners at every turn, impounding ships & men. There was great fear that these nations had designs on the interior of the United States. These conflicts lead ultimately to the War of 1812. Madison lost many of his followers in the War of 1812, for he was essentially a man of peace & not very successful as a war president; he was, however, re-elected for a second term a few months after war was declared. Several American defeats on land & the burning of the Capitol in Washington decreased his standing. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814. The Madison presidency had been disaster. But we must look at the larger context of the problems facing the nation when he gained office. The difficult relations with Britain & the jealousies of France were very real threats long before President Madison took the helm. Indeed, Madison had spent a lot of time & effort fighting the Federalist administrations over the policies, practices, and compromises that informed the War of 1812. In retrospect, he carried a poorly focused & dangerous war to a conclusion that was quite satisfactory to the American people. As often happens, a very unpopular President enjoyed great popularity after his presidency. Madison's esteem amongst his fellow citizens grew to remarkable heights long before his death.

At the close of his second term he retired to Montpelier, his estate in Virginia. President Madison's retirement encompassed twenty years of engagement beginning with a project in partnership with Thomas Jefferson. Together they would establish the University of Virginia, attending every detail from soliciting funds, to construction, to attracting talented teachers. They even went so far as to define much of the curriculum. Following the death of Jefferson, Madison spent several years attending to Jefferson's legacy. He helped family members arrange the publication of T.J.'s letters & papers, & arranged for simultaneous publication of in France. He answered numerous inquiries from biographers &, only when convinced that an inquiring author was sincere, supplied some modest personal notes & stories about Jefferson.
Madison attended the Virginia Convention of 1829 but he contributed little to the formal proceedings. It appears that he was dissatisfied with the quality of the representatives he found there, though he said nothing about it in public. By man y accounts he had quite an influence, in private conversation, with several of the young delegates who attended.
James Madison was well read & active in promoting republican ideals. He received several papers each day. He maintained written correspondence, even after rheumatism made it impossible for him to write, by dictating his letters. Madison entertained guests from Europe and America. All were amazed at his energy & his animated conversation. He died on the morning of June 28th, 1836.