This plan would form the basis of the U.S. In May 1787, delegates from each state came together at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and Madison was able to present his ideas for an effective government system in his “Virginia Plan,” which detailed a government with three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. Madison also suggested that governors and judges have enhanced roles in government in order to help manage the state legislatures. He felt the government should be set up with a system of checks and balances so no branch had greater power over the other. Madison, after undertaking an extensive study of other world governments, came to the conclusion that America needed a strong federal government in order to help regulate the state legislatures and create a better system for raising federal money. This structure left the national Congress weak, with no ability to properly manage federal debt or maintain a national army. The Articles were ratified in 1781 and gave most of the power to the individual state legislatures who acted more like individual countries than a union. He left Congress in 1783 to return to the Virginia assembly and work on a religious freedom statute, though he would soon be called back to Congress to help create a new constitution.Īfter the colonies declared independence from Britain in 1776, the Articles of Confederation were created as the first constitution of the United States. In 1780, Madison became a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. As a politician, Madison often fought for religious freedom, believing it was an individual’s right from birth. In 1776, he represented Orange County at the Virginia Constitution Convention to organize a new state government no longer under British rule.ĭuring his work in the Virginia legislature, Madison met lifelong friend Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States. Small in stature and sickly, he soon gave up a military career for a political one. When Virginia began preparing for the American Revolutionary War (1775-83), Madison was appointed a colonel in the Orange County militia. Today the estate, which covers some 2,600 acres, is open to the public.Īfter graduation, Madison took an interest in the relationship between the American colonies and Britain, which had grown tumultuous over the issue of British taxation. An estimated 100 enslaved people lived at Montpelier when Madison owned it. At age 18, Madison left Montpelier to attend the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).ĭid you know? Montpelier, James Madison's Virginia plantation home, was established by his grandfather in 1723. The oldest of 12 children, Madison was raised on the family plantation, Montpelier, in Orange County, Virginia. James Madison was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia, to James Madison Sr.
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