James Madison (16 March 1751 – 28 June 1836) was the President of the United States from 1809 to 1817, succeeding Thomas Jefferson and preceding James Monroe. Madison is famous for writing the US Constitution (for which he is known as the "Father of the Constitution"), for fleeing the White House during the War of 1812, and for being disgraced after the war's end.
Biography[]
Madison in 1783
Madison was born in Port Conway, Virginia, in the Thirteen Colonies (present-day United States). He studied law as a young man, graduating in 1772, and was a delegate of the Continental Congress from 1780 to 1782, the youngest delegate. During the years in between the 1785 Articles of Confederation and the 1789 US Constitution (which he authored), he came up with the Virginia Plan, which proposed a two-house government (US Congress and House of Representatives), and was a leading member of the Federalist Party. Madison wrote the Constitution in 1789, for which he is known as "the Father of the Constitution".
Madison in 1787
Madison served as the Secretary of State under President Thomas Jefferson for both of his terms (1801-1809), and acted as his right-hand man. He is famous for his refusal to give William Marbury his commission as a Supreme Court justice after he was appointed with John Adams' other "Midnight Judges" in 1801, causing the Marbury vs. Madison case that established the process of judicial review; Marbury's petition to become a justice was found unconstitutional.
Madison was elected as the fourth President of the United States on 4 March 1809 after a disgraced Jefferson left office, and he was seen as the opposite of Jefferson. Madison had a good sense of humor, was a short man, and did not give into temper issues. During his tenure as President, the United States still faced foreign policy issues. Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 cut off trade with the French Empire and United Kingdom, both major mercantile powers that were at war with each other during the Napoleonic Wars. The British Royal Navy seized American ships and force their crew to join their navy through "impressment", causing political crises. Madison ordered General William Henry Harrison, Governor of the Indiana Territory, to put down the confederacy of Indian tribes led by Tecumseh, culminating in the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe. The battle was significant in that it not only defeated Tecumseh's army, but when American soldiers entered Indian tents, they found British-supplied muskets in them. This cause another problem in US-British relations, exacerbating the issue.
On 18 June 1812, James Madison asked the US Congress for permission to declare war on the British. The British-backed Indian raids, impressment, the seizure of US ships, the refusal of British troops to leave their forts in Indiana, and the goal of annexing Canada by John Jay's War Hawks led to the United States invading British Canada. The American armies, around 7,000 troops at the start of the war, faced 5,200 British regulars, 10,000 Canadian regulars, 4,000 Canadian militia, and 10,000 native allies. The Americans met humiliating defeats in Canada at the hands of the British, and at sea, their 17 US Navy vessels (none larger than a frigate) faced more than 700 British warships. However, the US frigates were more heavily-armed and had determined and skillful officers and crew, and they claimed several victories over the British at first, with USS Constitution gaining the nickname "Old Ironsides" for defeating HMS Guerriere and several other British ships.
However, in 1814 the war turned against the United States. In April, Napoleon's downfall and the Bourbon Restoration led to the availability of British troops and warships, and USS Chesapeake and USS Essex were captured by the Royal Navy. In addition, the Royal Navy blockaded the coast, damaging the US economy. In August 1814, General Robert Ross and a British army invaded Washington, D.C., and Madison decided to flee the city when the American forces fled at the Battle of Bladensburg. While he fled the White House, his wife Dolly Madison famously retrieved the painting of George Washington and then made it out, and the humiliation was total. The British invaded Maine, taking over the east, and they also besieged the major American port of Baltimore. The Americans made a heroic display, and at the Siege of Fort McHenry, they defeated the British army despite the British use of warship bombardment and rockets to attack them. In addition, the Americans defeated the British invasion of New York, won the Battle of Plattsburgh, and signed the Treaty of Ghent on 24 December 1814, with James Monroe negotiating a peace treaty with the United Kingdom. The treaty returned the lands back to normal, apart from the United States gaining the Mobile District of West Florida from Spain after forcing the governor to surrender. Despite this, the fighting continued until 8 January 1815, when General Andrew Jackson and his army of 5,000 men (including Haitians, slaves, and other men) defeated the British army at the Battle of New Orleans. The battle increased American pride, and the war was at last over.
Madison was humiliated by the conflict, although the war was over. He had fled from the White House while his wife stayed behind, he had entered the United States into a conflict that left 3,900 US and British military personnel killed in action and 20,000 dead from disease without any territorial gains for either side, and he had lost thousands of black slaves that escaped their American owners by joining the British and later fleeing to Florida to join the Seminoles. Madison left office in 1817, and James Monroe succeeded him as president. He died in 1836.
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