James Madison
James Madison drafted the American constitution and then wrote the amendments limiting it. Born in 1751 in Virginia to a wealthy planting family, he was small, quiet and chronically unwell, was educated at Princeton, and read constitutions and confederacies systematically before the convention as preparation. He served in the Virginia legislature and the Continental Congress, and concluded that the Articles of Confederation could not work — a government without power to tax or regulate commerce, dependent on states that ignored it. He arrived at Philadelphia in 1787 with the Virginia Plan already drafted, which framed the whole debate: a strong national government, proportional representation, three branches. He also kept the notes that are our record of the proceedings, which he withheld until after his death. With Hamilton and Jay he wrote the Federalist Papers to win ratification in New York. Federalist 10, on how a large republic controls faction better than a small one, is the most influential thing written on American government. He opposed a bill of rights as unnecessary and then, having promised one to secure ratification, drafted it and pushed it through the first Congress. He then split with Hamilton over the bank and federal power, founded the Democratic-Republican party with Jefferson, and wrote the Virginia Resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts. As president from 1809 he led the country into the War of 1812 and fled Washington as the British burned it. He owned more than a hundred slaves and freed none. He died in 1836.
- Lived: 1751 CE – 1836 CE
- Nationality: American
- Roles: president, founding_father, political_theorist
