Often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution,” James Madison was a prolific writer and a popular President. His administration weathered the War of 1812, and ushered in the “Era of Good Feeling” that followed. His vivacious wife Dolley, a legendary Washington hostess, offset the natural shyness of the diminutive and soft-spoken Madison .

Born in 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia, Madison was the oldest of 10 children of a wealthy planter. He was tutored at home, and then graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton ). He later studied law, but was never admitted to the bar. A slight and sickly young man, Madison was considered too frail for military service.

In 1776 Madison was a delegate to the Virginia Convention, which demanded American independence from Britain . For the next 10 years he would serve on various representative assemblies including the Continental Congress, where he was for a time that body’s youngest member.

As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the reticent Madison was nevertheless an outspoken supporter of a strong Federal government tempered with suitable checks and balances. Together with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, he authored an influential collection of essays on this view, which were later published as The Federalist Papers. His speeches and writings earned him the reputation of having crafted the constitution. Madison , however, said that the document was not "the off-spring of a single brain [but] the work of many heads and many hands.”

From 1789-1797 Madison was a Virginia Representative to the House. His greatest achievement in Congress was the introduction of the Bill of Rights, which embodies the constitutional guarantee of civil liberty. Fearing a concentration of power in northern states, Madison , together with Thomas Jefferson, broke from the Federalists to form the opposition Democratic-Republican Party. He later served as Secretary of State during Jefferson ’s administration.

Elected President in 1809, Madison was immediately occupied by international crises. The ongoing seizure of American ships, goods and men by the warring British and French had not been stopped by Adams’ diplomacy or Jefferson ’s embargos. Finally, he asked Congress for a declaration of war against Britain , which was granted in 1812.

The War of 1812, essentially a second war of independence, lasted for three years. The new democracy was poorly prepared to fight, and endured a series of setbacks including the burning of Washington in 1814. But the British suffered a major defeat at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, and the war soon ground to a halt. Many regarded it as a stunning victory over the old foe, and a feeling of national pride surrounded Madison ’s second term in office.

Madison ’s government had managed to overcome foreign intimidation, shepherd its resources, and withstand secessionist threats from the New England states. His critics were so thoroughly discredited that the weakened Federalist Party finally collapsed. Madison left office in 1817, with the nation buoyed by a sense of well-being. He retired to Montpellier , his Virginia estate, where he died in 1836.

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