Lessons on American Presidents.
Ready-To-Print Handouts, MP3 & Online Quizzes - James Madison

James Madison was the President of the United States. He was born in 1751 in Virginia, the oldest of twelve . He studied history and government at Princeton (then the College of New Jersey). He was well read in law, which he studied because he it was interesting, not because he wanted to become a lawyer. He is as the “Father of the Constitution”.

Madison started out in politics at an age. He served in the Virginia state legislature from 1776 to 1779 and became as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. During this time, he draft the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. He a second term in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1784 to 1786. He gained a reputation for his ability to coalitions.

Madison was 36 when he the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and made a contribution to its ratification. He felt he hadn’t earned the title of "Father of the Constitution" and wrote that it was not "the off-spring of a brain, but the work of many and many hands”. In Congress, he helped frame the Bill of Rights and enact the revenue legislation.

Madison served as President between 1809 and 1817. He America into the War of 1812 to try to British interference in American affairs. The war ended in 1815 and is called “the Second War of American Independence”. After the war he promoted a national government and signed a bill that created the Second Bank of the United States. He at the age of 85 in 1836.