Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/236

 MADISON

MADISON

liis ablest state papers. He represented Virginia ill the Annapolis meeting of September, 1786, which called a national constitutional conven- tion at Philadelphia. He was a delegate to the Continental congress, 1786-88. In the conven- tion which met in May, 1787, to frame the Fed- eral constitution, he was a member of the com- mittee and a chief pioneer of the "Virginia Plan," which resulted in the instrument as adopted. He also advocated its adoption through the columns of the Federalist, which was the joint mouthpiece of Hamilton, Jay and Madison. He returned to Virginia in March, 1788, to take part in the state convention called to ratify the Federal constitution, where he found Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, James Monroe, Binjamin Harrison and John Tyler op- posed to the instrument. Madison assumed the leadership of the party in favor of its adoption and was supported in its advocacy l)y Marshall, Wythe, Randolph, Pendleton and Henry Lee, and the constitution was ratified by Virginia, the vote standing 89 to 79, — so close a vote that the suc- ceeding state assembly called upon congress for a national convention to reconsider the action of the first convention. Henry opposed Madison as U.S. senator and succeeded in keeping his name out of the contest. Madison was, however, elect- ed a representative from Virginia in the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th congresses, 1789-97. In congress he opposed the policy of Hamilton in relation to the finances, but was not at first classed as a radical Republican. He was married in Virginia, in 1794, to Dorothy (Payne) Todd, widow of John Todd, and daughter of John and Mary (Coles) Payne of North Carolina. President Washington offered Mr. Madison the mission to France in 1794, which he declined, as he also did the port- folio of state the same year. He had meanwhile

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become the acknowledged leader of the Republi- can party, and his opposition to the policy of the administration made him the choice of that party for the presidency in 1796, but he declined to be a candidate and advocated the election of Thomas Jefferson. During Adams's administra- tion he retired to Montpelier and took no part in

the affairs of state except to express his opinion in letters to the public press. He was the author of the *' Resolutions of 1789," in condemnation of the alien and sedition laws, which resolutions were adopted by the Virginia legislature, and of the report on the resolutions of 1798 in 1800. in " which he defended the resolutions. He was again elected to represent Orange county in the Virginia assembly in 1799, and in 1800 was an elect- or from Virginia to vote for Thomas Jefferson for President. His writings at this time paved the way for the inauguration of a Republican admin- istration and when Jefferson was elected he nat- urally turned to Madison as his chief cabinet officer. On March 4, 1801, Madison took up the portfolio of state and for eight years directed for-« eign affairs. In 1809 he was elected President of the United States, the electoral vote standing: for President, James Madison of Virginia, Re- publican, 122, Charles C. Pinckney of Soutli Carolina, Federalist, 47, George Clinton of New York, Republican, 6; for Vice-President, George Clinton of New York, Republican, 113, Rufus King of New York, Federalist, 47, John Lang- don of New Hampshire, 9, James Madison, 3, James Monroe, 3. In making up his cabinet President Madison appointed Robert Smith of Maryland, Jefferson's secretary of the navy and attorney-general, as secretary of state; Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania secretary of the treas- ury, which office he had also held under Jeffer- son; William Eustis of Massachusetts, secretary of w^ar; and Paul Hamilton of South Carolina, secretary of the navy. The following changes occurred in the cabinet during Madison's two ad- ministrations: James Monroe of Virginia suc- ceeded Secretary Smith in the state department, April 2, 1811; Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin resigned, and on Feb. 9, 1814, was succeeded by George W. Campbell of Tennessee, after whose resignation in September, 1814, Alexander J. Dallas of Pennsylvania was appointed. Oct. 6, 1814, and w^as in turn succeeded by William H. Crawford of Georgia, Oct. 22, 1816; in the war department the successors of Secretary Eustis were John Armstrong of New York, appointed January 13, 1813; James Monroe of Virginia, Sept. 27, 1814; Alexander J. Dallas of Pennsylvania (acting) March 14, 1815. and William H. Crawford of Georgia, Aug. 1, 1815; and in the navy department Secretary Hamilton was succeeded, Jan. 12, 1813, by Will- iam Jones of Pennsylvania, who was succeeded by Benjamin W. Crownshield of Massachusetts, Dec. 19, 1814. The war between France and England affected American commerce; American seamen were impressed in the foreign service, and American vessels trading with France were searched and detained by British men-of-war.