Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/829

 JAMES MADISON 823 ingham co., Ya., Aug. 27, 1749, died March 6, 1812. He graduated at William and Mary college in 1772, and in 1773 became professor of mathematics in the college, and studied the- ology. In 1775 he went to England, and was admitted to orders by the bishop of London. From 1777 till his death he was president of William and Mary college, and from 1784 also professor of natural, moral, and political phi- losophy. Dr. Griffith, who had been chosen as the first bishop of Virginia, having declined, Dr. Madison was selected for the office, and was consecrated by the archbishop of Canterbury,, at Lambeth palace, Sept. 19, 1790. He pub- lished several addresses and sermons, including one on the death of Washington (1800), and sev- eral scientific papers in " Barton's Journal " and the "Transactions of the American Society." MADISON, James, fourth president of the Uni- ted States, born at King George, Va., March 16, 1751, died at his seat of Montpelier, near Orange Court House, Va., June 28, 1836. His father was James Madison of Orange, a planter of ample means and high standing, descended from John Madison, an Englishman who settled in Virginia about the year 1653. The maiden name of his mother was Eleanor Conway. He was the eldest of seven children. After receiv- ing a good preliminary education, he was sent in 1769 to the college at Princeton, N. J., where he graduated in 1771 ; but he remained there until the spring of 1772, pursuing a course, of reading under Dr. Witherspoon, the president. His habits of application were so close at this period, that his health became seriously af- fected, and seems never to have been fully re- stored. In 1772 he returned to Virginia, and commenced a course of legal study, with which he mingled a large amount of miscellaneous reading and study in theology, philosophy, and belles-lettres. His attention was particularly directed to the first, and he thoroughly ex- plored all the evidences of the Christian reli- gion. From these pursuits he was soon divert- ed by public affairs. In the local contest for religious toleration, Madison distinguished him- self by his zeal and activity in defence of the Baptists particularly, who with other non- conformists had been subjected to violent per- secutions. In the spring of 1 776 he was elected a member of the Virginia convention from the county of Orange, and procured the passage of the substance of an amendment to the declara- tion of rights by George Mason, which struck out the old term toleration and inserted a broader exposition of religious rights. In the same year he was a member of the general as- sembly, but lost his election in 1777, from his refusal to treat the voters, and the general want of confidence in his powers of oratory. The legislature, however, on meeting in No- vember of the same year, elected him a mem- ber of the council of state ; and in the winter of 1779 he was chosen by the assembly a dele- gate to congress. He took his seat in March, 1780, and remained in that body for three years. He strongly opposed the issue of paper money by the states, and was in favor of a for- mal recommendation on the part of congress against the continuance of the system. As chairman of the committee to prepare instruc- tions to the ministers at Versailles and Ma- drid, in support of the claims of the confederacy to western territory and the free navigation of the Mississippi, he drew up an elaborate and able paper, which was unanimously adopted by congress. He zealously advocated in 1783 the measures proposed to establish a system of general revenue to pay the expenses of the war, and as chairman of the committee to which the subject was referred prepared an able address to the state in support of the plan, which was adopted by congress, and re- ceived the warm approval of Washington. A striking proof of the value which the people of Virginia attached to his services is exhib- ited by the fact that the law rendering him ineligible after three years' service in congress was repealed, in order that he might sit du- ring a fourth. On his return to Virginia he was elected to the legislature, and took his seat in 1784. In this body he inaugurated the measures relating to a thorough revision of the old statutes, and supported the bills introduced by the revisers, Jefferson, Wythe, and Pendleton, on the subject of entails, pri- mogeniture, and religious freedom. He aided in the separation of Kentucky from Virginia and the formation of the new state, opposed the further issue of paper money, and favored the payment of debts due to British credi- tors. His greatest service at this time was the preparation, after the adjournment of the assembly, of a u Memorial and Remonstrance " against the project of a general assessment for the support of religion, which caused the complete defeat of the measure against which it was directed. In January, 1786, he ob- tained the passage of a resolution by the gen- eral assembly, inviting the other states to ap- point commissioners to meet at Annapolis, and devise a new system of commercial regu- lations. He was chosen one of the commis- sioners, and attended at Annapolis in Septem- ber of the same year. Five states only were represented, and the commissioners recom- mended a convention of delegates from all the states to be held at Philadelphia in May, 1787. The recommendation was generally adopted, and Madison was chosen one of the delegates from Virginia. The convention assembled, and the result was the abrogation of the old articles, and the formation of the constitution of the United States. Madison was promi- nent in advocating the constitution, and took a leading part in the debates, of which he kept private notes, since published by order of con- gress. His views in regard to the federal gov- ernment are set forth at length in a paper still extant in the handwriting of Washington, which contains the substance of a letter written to Washington by Madison before the meeting