[James Madison.]
The subject of this narrative, James Madison, was born at King George, Virginia, March 16th, 1751. His father was a planter, descended from John Madison, an Englishman who settled in Virginia about the year 1656. The maiden name of his mother was Eleanor Conway. He was the eldest of seven children. He received a fairly good education but better still, he applied himself very closely at college, so much so as to make him noted in this respect; the result was seen in after years.
In 1772 he returned to Virginia and commenced a course of legal study. He particularly studied up on public affairs, and in the spring of 1776 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 declaration 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 assembly, but lost his election in 1777, from his refusal to treat the voters, and the general want of confidence in his powers of oratory. Thus, it is seen, that as James Madison's natural abilities could not have been very marked, his success was the natural result of great exertion.
The legislature, however, on meeting in November of the same year, elected him a member of the council of the State; and in the winter of 1779 he was chosen by the assembly a delegate 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 formal recommendation on the part of congress against the continuance of the system. As chairman of the committee to prepare instructions to the ministers at Versailles and Madrid, in support of the claims of the confederacy to western territory and the free navigation of the Mississippi, he drew an elaborate and able paper which was unanimously adopted by congress. He zealously advocated in 1783 the measure proposed to establish a system of general revenue to pay the expenses of the war, and as chairman of the committee to which the matter was referred, prepared an able address to the State in support of the plan, which was adopted by congress and received the warm approval of Washington.
The people of Virginia now began to realize the value of his services; a striking proof of which is exhibited by the fact that the law rendering him inelligible after three years' service in Congress was repealed, in order that he might sit during the fourth. On his return to Virginia he was elected to the Legislature, and took his seat during 1784. In this body he inaugurated the measures relating to a thorough revision of the old statutes, and supported the bills introduced by the revisors, Jefferson, Wyth, and Pendleton, on the subject of entails, primogeniture (exclusive heirship belonging to the first born) 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 British creditors. His greatest service at this time was his preparation, after the close of the assembly, of a "Memorial and Remonstrance" against the project of a general assessment for the support of religion, which caused the utter defeat of the measure, against which it was directed. In January, 1786, he obtained the passage of a bill by the General Assembly inviting the other States to appoint commissioners to meet at Annapolis and devise a new system of commercial regulations. He was chosen one of the commissioners, and attended at Annapolis in September of the same year. Five States only were represented, and the commissioners recommended a convention of delegates from all the States to meet at Philadelphia, in May, 1787. The recommendation was generally adopted and, of course, 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 prominent in advocating the Constitution and took a leading part in the debates, of which he kept private notes, since published by order of congress. His views of a federal government are set forth at length in a paper still extant in the hand-writing of Washington, which contains the substance of a letter written to Washington by Madison before the meeting of the convention, proposing a scheme of thorough centralization. The writer declares that he is equally opposed to 'the individual independence of the States,' and to 'the consolidation of the whole into one simple republic.'
He is nevertheless in favor to invest in congress the power to exercise 'a negative in all cases whatever on the legislative acts of the States, as heretofore exercised by the kingly prerogative.' He says further 'that the right of coercion should be expressly declared; but the difficulty and awkwardness of operating by force on the collective will of a State, render it particularly desirable that the necessity of it should be precluded.' From these extreme views Madison conscientiously departed, but in the convention he supported them with zeal and vigor.
The scheme known as the 'Virginia Plan' was adopted instead, and the convention adjourned. The subsequent adoption of the Constitution was in a large measure due to a series of essays, now familiar in their collected form as "The Federalist." They were commenced in a New York newspaper soon after the adjournment of the Convention, and continued to appear until June, 1788. The public journals everywhere republished them, and it was soon known that they were the work of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay. The volume remains the forcible exposition upon the side which it espoused. The whole ground is surveyed, generally and in detail; the various points at issue are discussed with the utmost acuteness, and the advantages of the adoption of the instrument urged with logical force and eloquence which place "The Federalist" beside the most famous political writings of the old English worthies.