President James Madison, Jr

1751 - 1836  (85 years)  Submit Photo / Document    Has 67 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

• Name	James Madison
  Prefix	President
  Suffix	Jr
  Birth	16 Mar 1751	Belle Grove Plantation, King George, Virginia, United States
  Christening	31 Mar 1751	St. John’s Episcopal Church, King George, Virginia, United States
  Gender	Male
  Death	28 Jun 1836	Montpelier, Orange, Virginia, United States
  Burial	29 Jun 1836	Mountpelier Estate National Historic Site, Montpelier Station, Orange, Virginia, United States
  Initiatory (LDS)	26 Mar 1998	JRIVE
  FamilySearch ID	LZTD-MFS
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I169098	mytree
  Last Modified	25 Feb 2024

  
  

  Father	Colonel James Madison,   b. 27 Mar 1723, Port Conway, King George, Virginia, United States d. 27 Feb 1801, Montpelier, Orange, Virginia, United States (Age 77 years)
  Mother	Eleanor Rose Conway,   b. 9 Jan 1731, Caroline, Virginia, United States d. 11 Feb 1829, Montpelier, Orange, Virginia, United States (Age 98 years)
  Marriage	15 Sep 1749	Montpelier Station, Orange, Virginia, United States
  Family ID	F42470	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Dolley Payne,   b. 20 May 1768, New Garden, Guilford, North Carolina, United States d. 12 Jul 1849, Washington, District of Columbia, United States (Age 81 years)
  Marriage	15 Sep 1794	Harewood Manor, Charles Town, Jefferson, West Virginia, United States
  Family ID	F42473	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	5 May 2024

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 16 Mar 1751 - Belle Grove Plantation, King George, Virginia, United States Christening - 31 Mar 1751 - St. John’s Episcopal Church, King George, Virginia, United States Marriage - 15 Sep 1794 - Harewood Manor, Charles Town, Jefferson, West Virginia, United States Death - 28 Jun 1836 - Montpelier, Orange, Virginia, United States Burial - 29 Jun 1836 - Mountpelier Estate National Historic Site, Montpelier Station, Orange, Virginia, United States Initiatory (LDS) - 26 Mar 1998 - JRIVE  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  James Madison, America’s fourth President (1809-1817), made a major cont r ibution to the ratification of the Constitution by writing The Federali s t Papers, along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. In later years , h e was referred to as the “Father of the Constitution.” At his inauguration, James Madison, a small, wizened man, appeared old a n d worn; Washington Irving described him as “but a withered little apple -J ohn.” But whatever his deficiencies in charm, Madison’s … wife Dolle y com pensated for them with her warmth and gaiety. She was the toast o f Washin gton. Born in 1751, Madison was brought up in Orange County, Virginia, and att e nded Princeton (then called the College of New Jersey). A student of hi st ory and government, well-read in law, he participated in the framing o f t he Virginia Constitution in 1776, served in the Continental Congress , an d was a leader in the Virginia Assembly. When delegates to the Constitutional Convention assembled at Philadelphi a , the 36-year-old Madison took frequent and emphatic part in the debate s. Madison made a major contribution to the ratification of the Constituti o n by writing, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the Federalist essa ys . In later years, when he was referred to as the “Father of the Consti tut ion,” Madison protested that the document was not “the off-spring o f a si ngle brain,” but “the work of many heads and many hands.” In Congress, he helped frame the Bill of Rights and enact the first reve n ue legislation. Out of his leadership in opposition to Hamilton’s finan ci al proposals, which he felt would unduly bestow wealth and power upo n nor thern financiers, came the development of the Republican, or Jeffer sonian , Party. As President Jefferson’s Secretary of State, Madison protested to warri n g France and Britain that their seizure of American ships was contrar y t o international law. The protests, John Randolph acidly commented, ha d th e effect of “a shilling pamphlet hurled against eight hundred ship s of wa r.” Despite the unpopular Embargo Act of 1807, which did not make the bellig e rent nations change their ways but did cause a depression in the Unite d S tates, Madison was elected President in 1808. Before he took office t he E mbargo Act was repealed. During the first year of Madison’s Administration, the United States pro h ibited trade with both Britain and France; then in May, 1810, Congres s au thorized trade with both, directing the President, if either would a ccep t America’s view of neutral rights, to forbid trade with the other n ation . Napoleon pretended to comply. Late in 1810, Madison proclaimed non-inter c ourse with Great Britain. In Congress a young group including Henry Cl a y and John C. Calhoun, the “War Hawks,” pressed the President for a mo r e militant policy. The British impressment of American seamen and the seizure of cargoes im p elled Madison to give in to the pressure. On June 1, 1812, he asked Con gr ess to declare war. The young Nation was not prepared to fight; its forces took a severe tro u ncing. The British entered Washington and set fire to the White House a n d the Capitol. But a few notable naval and military victories, climaxed by Gen. Andre w J ackson’s triumph at New Orleans, convinced Americans that the War o f 181 2 had been gloriously successful. An upsurge of nationalism resulte d. Th e New England Federalists who had opposed the war–and who had eve n talke d secession–were so thoroughly repudiated that Federalism disappe ared a s a national party. In retirement at Montpelier, his estate in Orange County, Virginia, Madi s on spoke out against the disruptive states’ rights influences that by t h e 1830’s threatened to shatter the Federal Union. In a note opened aft e r his death in 1836, he stated, “The advice nearest to my heart and dee pe st in my convictions is that the Union of the States be cherished an d per petuated.”