James Madison

James Madison was a Founding Father and the fourth president of the United States, serving from 1809 to 1817. He is popularly acclaimed as the 'Father of the Constitution' for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights. At the Constitutional Convention his Virginia Plan formed the basis for the deliberations, and he led the movement to ratify the Constitution.

Who else was alive Wikipedia

Biography

James Madison was a Virginia planter and lawyer who became a leading figure in the movement for a stronger national government in the 1780s. At the Constitutional Convention of 1787 he drafted the Virginia Plan, and with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay he wrote The Federalist essays in support of ratification.

In the first Congress he drafted the amendments that became the Bill of Rights. He broke with Hamilton's financial program and, with Thomas Jefferson, founded the Democratic-Republican Party. He served as Jefferson's Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809, a period that included the Louisiana Purchase.

As the fourth president (1809-1817) he led the country into the War of 1812 against Britain. The war went badly at first, and British troops burned Washington in 1814, but it ended with the Treaty of Ghent and a surge of national confidence. Madison was a lifelong slaveholder. He retired to his Montpelier estate and was the last surviving signer of the Constitution when he died in 1836.