James madison biography & facts

James Madison March 16, [ O. March 5, ] — June 28, was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from to Madison was popularly acclaimed the " Father of the Constitution " for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.

Madison was born into a prominent slave-owning planter family in Virginia. In , zealously opposing British taxation, Madison sided with the Patriots. Dissatisfied with the weak national government established by the Articles of Confederation , he helped organize the Constitutional Convention , which produced a new constitution designed to strengthen republican government against democratic assembly.

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Madison's Virginia Plan was the basis for the convention's deliberations. He became one of the leaders in the movement to ratify the Constitution and joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in writing The Federalist Papers , a series of pro-ratification essays that remains prominent among works of political science in American history.

Madison emerged as an important leader in the House of Representatives and was a close adviser to President George Washington. During the early s, Madison opposed the economic program and the accompanying centralization of power favored by Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton.

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Madison served as Jefferson's Secretary of State from to , during which time he helped convince Jefferson to submit the Louisiana Purchase Treaty for approval by the Senate. Madison was elected president in Motivated by a desire to acquire land held by Britain, Spain, and Native Americans, and after diplomatic protests with a trade embargo failed to end British seizures of American-shipped goods, Madison led the United States into the War of Although the war ended inconclusively, many Americans viewed it as a successful "second war of independence" against Britain.

Madison was re-elected in