James Madison: A Brief Biography

James Madison (Jr.) was born on March 16, 1751. Son of Eleanor Rose Conway and James Madison (Sr.). Madison graduated from Princeton University in 1771. There were 3 presidents before him which makes him the fourth president of the United States of America. Madison became president in 1808 and served two terms. He married a widow known as Dolley Payne. Dolley Madison had a child with her past husband, the child's name is Todd Payne.

In my paper I will state and explain the least known aspects of James Madison. James Madison contributed to some of the most simple and complex events that have not been recognized. For his job well done, I am willing to make those aspects known.

James Madison was born March 16, 1751 in Belle Grove, Port Conway.1 He was the oldest of 12 children, seven of who actually lived to adulthood. His parents were James Madison Sr. And Eleanor Rose Conway. Rose, his mother lived to be ninety eight years old. In 1762 at the age of 11 he was sent to a boarding school in King and Queen county, Virginia. His father, James, was a successful planter and owned more than 3,000 acres of land with dozens of slaves. He died of heart failure at the age of 85 on June 28, 1836. He died at the Montpelier estate.2

The founding fathers are intellectuals and due to their knowledge they were able to produce the Constitution. After taking the quiz, I found myself as James Madison, said to be quite short in a statue on the other hand incredibly smart and not flamboyant compared to his peers. He led the country into the war of 1812 against the British. He remembered as the "Father of the Constitution," the Fourth President of the United States and co-author of the Federalist. I learned that Madison kept most of his public papers because he senses the document will be of importance in the future example American Scholarship.

American soldiers that were able to pass as a British citizen. Of the 10,000 men

The American Revolution emerge, and new ideas and changes were made from the Founding Brothers. The Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation...were all made and edit from the Founding Brothers. One of the Founding Brothers, did not experience the American revolution. James Madison, a federalist who was a republican-democratic had many goals he wanted to achieved. He looked back and was able to see what aspects of were done wrong and try to renew them for the future of the United States. James Madison, a Founding Brother was the most influential to establish the United States.

James Madison begins his famous federalist paper by explaining that the purpose of this essay is to help the readers understand how the structure of the proposed government makes liberty possible. Each branch should be, for the most part, in Madison's opinion, independent. To assure such independence, no one branch should have too much power in selecting members of the other two branches. If this principle were strictly followed, it would mean that the citizens should select the president, the legislators, and the judges. But, the framers recognized certain practical difficulties in making every office elective. In particular, the judicial branch would suffer because the average person is not aware of the qualifications judges should

My single story about the constitution was that it came right after America gained its independence. After deep analysis of James Madison quote about framing a government “We are in the wilderness without a single footstep to guide us” I learned that creating a government is trial and error and is more complex than I imagined. This quote was able to show me the fear of trying to carve out a new system of government. In eighth grade when I “learned” about the constitution it was about the amendments but not why the constitution was created (Articles of Confederation) and how the founding fathers were taking a gamble by forming a democracy. While creating the constitution the founding father had tried to appease the American people*. The constitution

The Article of Confederation was ratified in 1781. This Article was part of the formation of a national government in the United States. But, by 1787, a reform convention was held to address the Article’s weaknesses. This event also brought about tension in the country between two groups, the Federalists and Antifederalists. Federalists were a group of people that advocated for a system of government, while Antifederalists opposed the creation of a stronger America. The Article of Confederation  was designed as a loose confederation of 13 states, and reflected principles of the Declaration of Independence. But, difficulties began to arise with the new Constitution when economic weakness and farmers revolt proved the Article was a poor form of government, along with opposing views from Federalists and Antifederalists, verifying that an inadequate document had been created.

When most people think of the founding fathers, they think of people such as George Washington. He was the leader of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first President of the United States of America. He was nicknamed “The Father of His Country” for his contributions and leadership during the American Revolution. Some could mention the second President of the United States, John Adams, who also led in persuading the Continental Congress to declare America’s independence from Great Britain, while others could also mention Thomas Jefferson, who was the third President of the United States and the author of the United States Constitution.

The Articles of Confederation, which was considered the first constitution of the United States of America, and the US Constitution, which acts as the supreme law in the United States today, both are poles apart. In fact, it was only because of the weaknesses of the Articles that the present-day US Constitution was drafted. The Articles of Confederation or Articles was a written agreement which laid the guidelines for the functioning of the national government. It was drafted by the Continental Congress and sent to the thirteen original states for ratification in November 1777. Within a few years of its ratification, the Articles was subjected to severe criticism by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Problems with the document existed in plenty; the biggest issue being the fact that it left the national government at the mercy of states. Eventually, it was decided that this agreement had to be revised to suit the needs of the nation as a whole. The delegates at the Philadelphia Convention came to the conclusion that it was better to draft an entirely new constitution instead of revising the existing agreement, and thus came into existence the new US Constitution.

James Madison and Patrick Henry were two significant individuals when it came to the proposal and opinions concerning the Constitution of the United States. James Madison was known to be a federalist, meaning he was in favor of the Constitution and the Republic which it formed. On the other hand, Patrick Henry was an anti-federalist and was against the new form of government being proposed due to his belief that the rights of citizens were at risk through the implementation of the Constitution. Although both give strong arguments on their position, I believe that the side of the debate which is the most ethical would be the side of the Federalists, who want to form a country with more specific representation and a more controlled government and country as a whole since too much democracy could lead to the destruction of the rights of individuals in itself.

After the United States Of America was declared independent in Great Britain 1776, a committee was formed in 1777 to construct The Articles of Confederation that acted as the very first constitution.  However, The Articles of Confederation had various frailties that negatively affected the operation of the central government in accomplishing its mandate. Some of the many weaknesses of these Articles of Confederation were economic disjointedness, lack of central government power, and legislative inefficiencies. To resolve and improve these frailties, the Supreme law that would repudiate any other form of government in the United States had to be created. Delegates from all states assembled in Philadelphia to start deliberations on amending the Articles in 1787. A comparison of the Constitution and The Articles Of Confederation reveal several similarities as well as differences in the two documents. The founding fathers concluded that replacing The Articles of Confederation with the Constitution was the only way to empower the federal government and provide the central government with the necessary power to administer its mandates.

Although the Articles of the Confederation became known as the United States’ first written constitution, it did not became ratified by all states until after four years after it was adopted and only lasted for 12 years until it was later replaced with the Constitution we used today. The Articles did set a foundation for our modern day constitution but in its early stages posed serious problems that lead to the drafting of a new constitution. Some of those problems included vesting the entire central government within just Congress (lack of Executive, and Judicial Branch), giving central government very limited power on how it handled state to state affair, and lack of national army because the army was composed of state militias. The articles

There were many differences between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. At the end of the American Revolution the free states needed some sort of control that would generate to a unified country. Issues arose such as: How should power be divided between local and national governments? How should laws be made, and by whom? Who should be authorized to govern those laws? How could the government be designed to protect the unalienable individual rights? Their first attempt at solving this issue was the Articles of Confederation, which was a failure for the most part, but not completely. After the failure of the articles, the state delegates tried to revise the articles, but