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Definition: James Madison |
James MadisonNoun1. 4th President of the United States; member of the Constitutional Congress and recorder at the Constitutional Convention in 1776; helped frame the Bill of Rights (1751-1836). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Synonyms: James MadisonSynonyms: Madison (n), President Madison (n). (additional references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
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James Madison (March 16, 1751 - June 28, 1836) was the fourth (1809-1817) President of the United States. He was co-author, with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton, of the Federalist Papers, and is viewed by some as the "Father of the United States Constitution."
Madison was born in King George County, Virginia. His parents Colonel James Madison, Sr (March 27, 1723 - February 27, 1801) and Eleanor Rose "Nellie" Conway (January 9, 1731 - February 11, 1829) were the prosperous owners of the tobacco plantation in Orange County, Virginia where James spent most of his childhood years. In 1769, James left the plantation to attended Princeton University (it was called the College of New Jersey at the time), finishing its four-year course in two years, but exhausting himself from overwork in the process. When he regained his health, he became a protegé of Thomas Jefferson. In this capacity he became a prominent figure in Virginia state politics, helping to draft their declaration of religious freedom and persuading Virginia to give their northwestern territories (consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee) to the continental congress.
In the 1780s, Madison helped convince the political leaders of the time to call for a constitutional convention. Madison's influence at the convention in 1787 has led some historians to call him the "Father of the Constitution". His notes on the convention became the basis for his contributions to the Federalist Papers, which are considered the definitive contemporary commentary on the Constitution of the USA. Madison's arguments were powerfully influenced by the political thought of Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu.
When the constitution was ratified, Madison became a U.S. Representative from his home state of Virginia. It was he who proposed the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, based on earlier work by George Mason. The chief characteristic of Madison's time in Congress was his desire to limit the power of the federal government. It was when he and the other followers of Thomas Jefferson denied the power of the federal government to form its own bank that the first political parties in the United States were formed: the Federalists, who followed Hamilton and believed in a strong central government, and the Democratic-Republicans, who followed Jefferson and believed strongly in limiting centralized power.
At 5'4" and 100 pounds, Madison was frequently ill and highly religious. In 1794, Madison married his wife Dolley (Dolley Madison), who cut as attractive and vivacious figure as he a sickly and antisocial one. It was Dolley who is largely credited with inventing the role of "First Lady" as political ally to the president.
In 1797 Madison left Congress; in 1801 he became Jefferson's Secretary of State. In 1808, he ran for president in his own right, and won, largely on the strength of his abilities in foreign affairs at a time when England and France were both on the edge of war with the United States. Both countries were blockading the ports of the other, preventing American commerce with either. In the end, England's efforts to destroy American maritime commerce put them over the top. In 1810, a bill was passed that would break off relations with any nation that would not remove the blockade: France did, and England didn't.
The war was not a wonderful success; the British won victory after victory, including a temporary occupation of Washington, D.C., when Madison was driven out. The British also armed American Indians in the west, including the Shawnee under their leader Tecumseh. Neither side was terribly enthusiastic about the war, however: the British had nothing to gain, and in the United States, New England threatened secession if the war was not ended. In 1814, the Treaty of Ghent ended the war. The most important battle, the Battle of New Orleans (1815), in which Andrew Jackson distinguished himself, was fought several months after the end of the war, the news not having reached the Louisiana territory in time. The major lasting effect for the political face of the country was the end of the Federalist party, who were considered traitors when they opposed the war.
After leaving office, Madison retired to Montpelier, his farm in Virginia. He was briefly the rector of the University of Virginia, but spent most of his days farming. He died on June 28, 1836.
Biography
Places named for James Madison
Supreme Court appointments
Related articles
External links
Preceded by:
Thomas JeffersonPresidents of the United States
Succeeded by:
James Monroe
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "James Madison."
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | A picture of James Madison. (The Long Goodbye; writing credit: Leigh Brackett) | |
Clever | We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties. (references; author: James Madison) Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power. (references; author: James Madison) Equal laws protecting equal rights . . . the best guarantee of loyalty & love of country. (references; author: James Madison) As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. (references; author: James Madison) The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. (references; author: James Madison) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Periodicals |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Coast Survey sounding operations in Strawberry Harbor Coast Survey Ship FAUNTLEROY in background Watercolor by James Madison Alden, nephew of Lieutenant James Alden Lt. Alden commanded the Coast Survey Steamer ACTIVE. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Oldest known sketch of Coast Survey sounding operations Watercolor by James Madison Alden - 1857 Coast Survey Brig FAUNTLEROY in background. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | James Madison Monument, Montpelier, Virginia. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Mrs. James Madison. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Statues and sculpture. Bust of James Madison in Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, Virginia I. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | James Madison, fourth President of the United States. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
James Madison | We are right to take alarm at the first experiment upon our liberties. |
| Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power. | |
| Equal laws protecting equal rights . . . the best guarantee of loyalty & love of country. | |
| As a man is said to have a right to his property, he may be equally said to have a property in his rights. | |
| The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. | |
| The proposed Constitution is, in strictness, neither a national nor a federal constitution; but a composition of both. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
james madison university | 647 |
james madison | 396 |
james madison high school | 124 |
home james madison | 5 |
book james madison store university | 4 |
cutts james madison | 3 |
james madison and the federalist papers | 3 |
james madison montpelier | 2 |
home james madison page university | 2 |
brooklyn high james madison new school york | 2 |
home james madison school | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Phoenicoparrus jamesi, Sanctus Jacobus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-d-e-i-j-m-m-n-o-s-s" | |
-2 letters: seminomads. | |
-3 letters: demonisms, monadisms, nomadisms, seminomad. | |
-4 letters: adenomas, adenosis, adonises, amidases, amidones, ammonias, amnesias, anemosis, anosmias, daimones, demonism, jasmines, misnamed, misnames, monadism, nomadism, sesamoid. | |
-5 letters: adenoma, adjoins, amassed, amidase, amidone, ammines, ammonia, amnesia, anadems, anemias, anomies, anosmia, daemons, daimons, damsons, desmans, dimness, domains, domines, emodins, eonisms, inseams, jammies, jasmine, jasmins, madames, madness, maenads, maidens. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)4A 61 6D 65 73 4D 61 64 69 73 6F 6E |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001010 01100001 01101101 01100101 01110011 00100000 01001101 01100001 01100100 01101001 01110011 01101111 01101110 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)J a m e s   M a d i s o n |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)004A 0061 006D 0065 0073 004D 0061 0064 0069 0073 006F 006E |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)4467797185247677075858180 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Expressions: Internet | 9. Translations: Ancient 10. Anagrams 11. Orthography 12. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
