James Madison

James Madison was born on March 16, 1751 (March 5, Old Style), in Port Conway, VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, the first of 12 children.⁠[1]

His father, James Madison Sr., acquired substantial wealth through inheritance and marriage, and his mother, Nelly Conway, was the daughter of a rich tobacco merchant. He was a sickly child.⁠[2]

He was born in King George County. Montpelier had belonged to the Madison family since 1723; his father probably built the earliest part of the present house in the 1760s, then the largest brick dwelling in Orange County.⁠[3]

In 1769 he entered the College of New JerseyPrinceton UniversityPrinceton University is a private university and Ivy League member in Princeton, New Jersey. Chartered on October 22, 1746 as the College of New Jersey, it moved to Princeton in 1756 and adopted its present name in 1896. Undergraduate education leads to A.B. and B.S.E. degrees and emphasizes small-group discussion, independent research and residential college life. Graduate education spans the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and engineering. As of October 2026, Christopher L. Eisgruber was president. Its 2026–27 operating budget was $3.407 billion, including $342 million for undergraduate aid.Open the full entry (now Princeton University), graduating in 1771; in 1772 he returned to Virginia, studied law and became involved in local debates over religious freedom.⁠[1]

He completed his college studies in two years but stayed on at Princeton for another term.⁠[2]

In December 1774 he was appointed to the Orange County, Virginia, Committee of Safety. In 1776 he was elected to the Virginia Convention that drafted the state’s constitution, and that October he joined the Virginia House of Delegates and met Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. He had earlier been governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state and vice president.Open the full entry. In 1777 he lost his seat after refusing to treat voters to whiskey, then won a seat on the Council of State.⁠[1]

In December 1779 he was elected to a three-year term in the Continental Congress. He arrived in Philadelphia in March 1780 and began keeping a daily record of its proceedings; he made his last appearance as a delegate in October 1783 and returned to Virginia.⁠[1]

At twenty-nine he was the youngest member of the Continental Congress.⁠[2]

In 1784 he returned to Montpelier, studied law, dabbled in land speculation and toured New York with the Marquis de Lafayette, and he served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1784 through 1786. In 1785 he blocked state support for churches, helping to bring about the Statute for Establishing Religious Freedom. In 1786 he attended the Annapolis convention on interstate trade.⁠[1]

The poorly attended Annapolis meeting issued a call for a national convention.⁠[2]

The Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia on May 14, 1787. Edmund Randolph submitted the Virginia Plan, and Madison’s extensive notes are the best available source on the closed-door meetings.⁠[2]

He arrived at the convention in Philadelphia in May 1787 and helped present the Virginia Plan.⁠[1]

In 1787–1788 he co-wrote The Federalist with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay under the pen name “Publius.” In 1788 he argued for ratification at the Virginia convention, which made Virginia the tenth state to ratify the Constitution.⁠[1]

He wrote twenty-nine of the eighty-five essays.⁠[2]

In 1789 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and sponsored the amendments that became the Bill of Rights. In 1791–1792 he opposed Hamilton’s national bank, broke with the Federalists and helped found the Jeffersonian Republican Party; in 1795 he led the opposition to the Jay Treaty with Great Britain, which was ratified despite its unpopularity. In 1797 he retired from the House and returned to Montpelier to manage the plantation.⁠[1]

The first ten amendments, which he introduced and guided to passage, were ratified in 1791. He joined Thomas Jefferson in forming an opposition party known as the Democratic-Republicans.⁠[2]

On September 15, 1794, to the surprise of most of his friends, he married 26-year-old Dolley Payne Todd.⁠[2]

Dolley Payne Todd was from Philadelphia, and they married after a four-month courtship.⁠[1]

The Miller Center’s essay describes her, a vivacious widow, as a paramount political partner to him.⁠[4]

Back at Montpelier he and his wife lived with his parents. Between 1797 and 1801 he added a matching wing to the north end of the house and a two-story front portico, probably with Thomas Jefferson’s advice. He inherited Montpelier in 1801.⁠[3]

He wrote the Virginia Resolution, adopted by the state legislature in 1798.⁠[2]

Together with the Kentucky Resolutions it opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts. In 1799 he was elected to the Virginia Assembly and defended the Virginia Resolutions, and on January 7, 1800, he prepared a report on the Alien and Sedition Acts.⁠[1]

In 1801 Thomas Jefferson was elected president and appointed Madison secretary of state; Madison’s father died on February 28 of that year. In 1807 he persuaded Jefferson to seek the Embargo Act, a ban on foreign commerce.⁠[1]

He remained secretary of state until his own election to the presidency in 1808.⁠[2]

In 1808 he was elected the fourth president of the United States, with George Clinton as vice president.⁠[1]

In that election Madison received 122 electoral votes, Charles C. Pinckney 47 and George Clinton 6; of the 176 electors, one from KentuckyKentuckyKentucky is a U.S. state bordered by Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to the north, West Virginia and Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south and Missouri to the west; its capital is Frankfort and its largest city is Louisville. It entered the Union on June 1, 1792, as the 15th state and the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains, and had a population of 4,505,836 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry did not vote, and a majority was 89.⁠[5]

He delivered his inaugural address on March 4, 1809. On April 19 he proclaimed the Erskine Agreement reestablishing trade with Great Britain, and on August 9 he issued a proclamation renewing the prohibition of trade with Britain. On November 29 he sent his first annual message to Congress.⁠[6]

The Embargo Act was repealed just before he took office, and trade disputes continued.⁠[1]

On May 1, 1810, he signed Macon’s Bill Number 2. On October 27 he issued a proclamation announcing the U.S. occupation of West Florida, and on November 2 one acknowledging France’s offer, under Macon’s Bill Number 2, to stop seizing American ships.⁠[6]

On February 21, 1811, he vetoed a bill incorporating a Protestant Episcopal church, and on February 28 a relief bill that favored a religious establishment. On December 18 he sent Congress a special message on the Battle of Tippecanoe.⁠[6]

On April 8, 1812, he signed the bill admitting LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state in the southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico, bordered by Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas; its capital is Baton Rouge and its largest city is New Orleans. It entered the Union on April 30, 1812, as the 18th state, and had a population of 4,657,757 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry to the Union. On June 1 he sent Congress a special message asking it to consider a declaration of war; Congress passed war resolutions on June 18, and on June 19 he proclaimed a state of war with Great Britain.⁠[6]

American invasions of Canada followed and ended with the loss of Detroit.⁠[1]

On May 18, 1812, the Democratic-Republican congressional caucus renominated him; he was reelected that year, Congress tabulated the electoral votes on February 10, 1813, and he delivered his Second Inaugural Address on March 4.⁠[6]

In that election Madison received 128 electoral votes and De Witt Clinton 89; there were 217 electors, and a majority was 109.⁠[7]

Elbridge Gerry was elected vice president.⁠[1]

The Library of Congress timeline judges that in 1813 he continued to manage the war with Great Britain but failed to achieve any real strategic goals.⁠[1]

On October 5, 1813, American forces won the Battle of the Thames, in which Tecumseh was killed. On December 17 he signed a new Embargo Act.⁠[6]

On August 24, 1814, British forces burned the Capitol, the White House and other public buildings, and Madison and the government fled Washington.⁠[1]

On September 1 he issued a proclamation calling on citizens to unite in defense of the District of Columbia, and on September 3 Secretary of War Armstrong resigned. American forces won the Battle of Lake Champlain on September 11, and on September 14 Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” after the defense of Fort McHenry. On October 21 a joint resolution authorized the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s library, and on January 30, 1815, he signed the law funding the purchase.⁠[6]

On October 16, 1814, the MassachusettsMassachusettsMassachusetts (officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States; its capital and largest city is Boston. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on February 6, 1788, the sixth state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 7,029,917.Open the full entry legislature called for a gathering of the New England states; the Hartford Convention met on December 15 and released its report on January 5, 1815. The Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814. American forces won the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, and on February 18 he proclaimed the ratification of the Treaty of Ghent.⁠[6]

Andrew JacksonAndrew JacksonAndrew Jackson (1767–1845) was an American soldier and politician who served as President of the United States from 1829 to 1837, after leading U.S. forces to victory at the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812.Open the full entry defeated the British at New Orleans.⁠[1]

On January 30, 1815, he vetoed a national bank bill. On March 3 he signed an act declaring war on Algiers; on December 6 he sent the peace treaty with Algiers to the Senate, which consented to its ratification on December 21.⁠[6]

Beginning in 1816 he sat on the Board of Visitors that was creating the University of Virginia, and after Thomas Jefferson’s death in 1826 he became its second rector.⁠[8]

The University of Virginia opened in 1825. He served as its rector for eight years beginning in July 1826.⁠[1]

On April 10, 1816, he signed the act chartering the Second Bank of the United States, and on April 27 he approved a tariff. That year his secretary of state, James MonroeJames MonroeJames Monroe (1758–1831) was an American politician and diplomat who served as President of the United States from 1817 to 1825; his administration proclaimed the Monroe Doctrine.Open the full entry, won the presidential election, and IndianaIndianaIndiana is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. It was admitted to the Union on December 11, 1816, as the 19th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 6,785,528.Open the full entry was admitted to the Union on December 11.⁠[6]

On March 3, 1817, he vetoed the Bonus Bill for internal improvements.⁠[6]

In the spring of 1817 he retired from public service and returned to Montpelier, where he led the Agricultural Society of Albemarle and helped found the American Colonization Society.⁠[1]

In retirement he managed his large plantation and pursued scientific farming in the face of the increasing unprofitability of Virginia agriculture.⁠[8]

After his return the house was altered again, with wings added for his wife and his mother.⁠[3]

In 1829–1830 he was a delegate to the Virginia Constitutional Convention in Richmond, where he worked on a compromise over how to count enslaved persons for representation in the House of Delegates; voters approved the new constitution in April 1830. He returned to Montpelier in January 1830.⁠[8]

His mother, Nelly Conway Madison, died in February 1829 at the age of 97.⁠[1]

In 1833 he was elected president of the American Colonization Society, and in 1834 he wrote “Advice to My Country” and planned the publication of his notes from the Constitutional Convention.⁠[1]

The Miller Center’s essay calls the American Colonization Society controversial.⁠[4]

He died at Montpelier on June 28, 1836.⁠[8]

He died at the age of 85 and lies buried with his wife in the family cemetery on the grounds.⁠[3]

The Library of Congress timeline calls him the last of the Founding Fathers; his will did not free the people he enslaved.⁠[1]

Montpelier was his home for 76 years. Dolley Madison sold Montpelier in 1844; the family of William duPont owned the property from 1901 and bequeathed it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1984, which still owns it. The Montpelier Foundation assumed management in 2000 and in 2003 began a five-year restoration.⁠[3]

The Montpelier Foundation is an independent nonprofit founded in 1998 as the steward of James Madison’s Montpelier, a 2,650-acre property, with the mission of engaging the public with the life, legacy and ideas of James and Dolley Madison.⁠[9]

The Miller Center’s essay presents his role in framing the Constitution under the heading “Father of the U.S. Constitution.”⁠[2]

James Madison’s Montpelier: Official website: https://www.montpelier.org/ (opens in a new window).⁠[9]