artillery to defend the city in case of another attack Madison comforted the troops and residents he encountered urging them to keep their spirits up Our good president is out animating and encouraging the troops and citizens not to despair a local banker wrote Not everyone shared Madison’s outlook at first While the president was visiting the Capitol William Thornton the architect who had designed the gutted building delivered a message from a group of citizens who wanted to surrender to the British After two years of fighting and the loss of their capital city they were ready to accept defeat But Madison forbade it declaring that surrender was not acceptable and that no one should suggest it to the British Thornton joined Madison’s cause by rallying Washington DC residents to repair their city and prepare to defend it again Likewise the American people followed their president’s lead and persevered The United States may have lost a crucial battle in its capital city but it had not lost the war James Madison is most remembered as one of the United States founders As a delegate at the Constitutional Convention Madison played a major role in shaping the Constitution the document that replaced the Articles of Confederation and established how the new country would be governed As one of the authors of The Federalist Papers he helped persuade the states to approve the new Constitution ceding some of their power to make a stronger central government Then as a member of the United States Congress he introduced and pushed for the passage of the Bill of Rights the first ten amendments to the Constitution which establish some of Americans most fundamental liberties For these reasons Madison is often referred to as the Father of the Constitution 8
While the creation and passage of these documents ranked among Madison’s most historic and far-reaching accomplishments he also went down in history as the nation’s first wartime president Standing just 5 feet 4 inches 1 6 meters tall the fourth president was a soft-spoken man who was often in poor health He did not fit most people’s image of a military commander and he was reluctant to take the country to war But he successfully led the United States through one of its first major conflicts as a new country Through the controversial and costly War of 1812 Madison reasserted the country’s independence while maintaining the constitutional rights he had fought to create man with a quiet voice James Madison was a short slight 9
CHAPTER ONE SHAPING A NEW NATION After arriving from England in the mid-seventeenth century James Madison’s great-great grandparents made their home in the colony of Virginia By the time James Madison Sr father of the future president married Nelly Conway in 1749 the family owned a plantation called Montpelier with thousands of acres and dozens of slaves to work it On March 16 1751 Nelly gave birth to James Madison Jr called Jemmy as a child He was the first child in what would be a large family Young James was plagued by illness and seizures possibly caused by epilepsy or a similar disease But his parents made sure his poor health did not stand in the way of an excellent education James attended a boarding school in Ki ng and Queen County Virginia where he studied advanced math and learned Latin Greek and French The school’s extensive library served James’s overflowing intellectual curiosity He became an avid reader writing down thoughts and questions as he read and then seeking out further reading materials to answer them Several years later the Madison family hired a tutor to work with all their children at home This tutor saw great potential in James and recommended sending him to the College of New Jersey which later became Princeton University There surrounded 10
Madison grew up on his family’s plantation near Orange Virginia This 1818 illustration shows the main house at the Montpelier plantation by his intellectual peers Madison shed some of his lifelong shyness He became known for both his brilliance and his sense of humor as he composed insulting poems about members of opposing debate teams Instead of preparing himself for any particular profession Madison studied philosophy and society He graduated in just two years having done well enough on his entrance exams to skip his freshman year and later completing his last two years curriculum in a single year After Madison returned home to Montpelier in 1772 he took up a lifelong interest in religious freedom The colony of Virginia’s official religion was the C hurch of England also called the Anglican Church and the law did not allow the practice or spread of other religions Madison was appalled when Virginia’s government started to arrest and punish Baptist preachers for promoting their faith Madison was an Anglican and did not 11
