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James
Madison
by Daniel
Madison served as the fourth President of the United States from
1809 – 1817. He led the nation into the War of 1812
against Great Britain in order to Little known fact: James Madison was the shortest President – 5’4” tall. Image sources (Google Image Search):
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Madison
was born in Port Conway, Virginia, on March 16, 1751. He was the
oldest of twelve children. His parents were slave owners
and the prosperous owners of a tobacco plantation in Orange County,
Virginia. Madison attended Princeton (then called the College
of New Jersey). A student of history and government, well-read
in law, he participated in the framing of the Virginia Constitution
in 1776, served in the Continental Congress, and was a leader in
the Virginia Assembly. 
Considered
to be the "Father of the Constitution", he was the principal
author of the document. In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist
Papers, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution.
The first President to have served in the United States Congress,
he was a leader in the 1st United States Congress, drafted many
basic laws and was responsible for the first ten amendments to
the Constitution (said to be based on the Virginia Declaration
of Rights), and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill
of Rights". He believed very strongly that the new nation
should fight against aristocracy and corruption and was deeply
committed to creating mechanisms that would ensure republicanism
in the United States. 
As
leader in the House of Representatives, Madison worked closely
with President George Washington to organize the new federal government.
Breaking with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in 1791, Madison
and Thomas Jefferson organized what they called the Republican
Party (later called the Democratic–Republican Party). 
As
Jefferson's Secretary of State (1801–1809), Madison supervised
the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation's size. 
protect
the United States' economic rights. The young Nation was not prepared
to fight. That conflict began poorly as Americans suffered defeat
after defeat by smaller forces. The British entered Washington
and set fire to the White House and the Capitol. 
When
Madison left office in 1817, he retired to Montpelier, his tobacco plantation
in Virginia, not far from Jefferson's Monticello. He died at Montpellier
on June 28, 1836. He was the last Founding Father to die.