James Madison Research Paper

James Madison, also known as the “Father of the Constitution”, achieved many great things during his 85 year long lifetime. He helped to build our great nation and stuck with it through the toughest times. An influential politician, Madison was an intelligent and impassioned man with a love for liberty and justice, and fought courageously to allow everyone to have the basic freedoms that modern Americans enjoy. He built our country, and we have him to thank for our wonderful republic.

Madison was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia, however he soon moved to the Madison house in Orange County, Virginia. He was born to the richest landowner in Orange County, James Sr., and the daughter of a merchant, Nellie. According to Madison,

Madison was supported by the Democratic-Republican Party, and Pickney was supported by the Federalist Party. Madison won with 122 electoral votes, with Pickney receiving only 47. Despite this relatively easy victory, Madison’s first term was far from that. Between 1808-1812, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British showed great disrespect toward American sovereignty, despite America being a neutral trade partner in the war. There were multiple counts of violations of neutral trade rights, illegal blockades, and the seizing of American sailors to work on foreign vessels. Madison, along with other politicians of that era, was agitated, and felt violated by the British. When he was elected once again in 1812, he asked for a declaration of war, which barely passed through Congress. Madison delivered an impassioned War Address, with fervent language like “have wantonly spilt American blood within the sanctuary of our territorial jurisdiction.” While Madison clearly cared about this topic, the War of 1812 was executed abysmally by the American government. Congress refused to institute wartime taxes, the soldiers and officers were highly undertrained, the War Department was understaffed, and the government refused to increase taxes to fund it. While the navy fared better than the army, they were still underfunded and lost frequently. The only massive military victory was the Battle of New Orleans, which was only won after the conclusion of the war. James Madison, while not an active member of the negotiations ending the war, assisted the talks that led to the Treaty of Ghent. The war lasted almost three years, with an overall cost of $158 million to the American side. The Americans also lost almost 17,000 men, with over 4,500 soldiers wounded. However, there was an upside to the war: the victory at New Orleans instilled a new sense of nationalism in the American people,