MADISON
MADISON
liis ablest state papers. He represented Virginia
ill the Annapolis meeting of September, 1786,
which called a national constitutional conven-
tion at Philadelphia. He was a delegate to the
Continental congress, 1786-88. In the conven-
tion which met in May, 1787, to frame the Fed-
eral constitution, he was a member of the com-
mittee and a chief pioneer of the "Virginia
Plan," which resulted in the instrument as
adopted. He also advocated its adoption through
the columns of the Federalist, which was the
joint mouthpiece of Hamilton, Jay and Madison.
He returned to Virginia in March, 1788, to take
part in the state convention called to ratify the
Federal constitution, where he found Patrick
Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Mason, James
Monroe, Binjamin Harrison and John Tyler op-
posed to the instrument. Madison assumed the
leadership of the party in favor of its adoption
and was supported in its advocacy l)y Marshall,
Wythe, Randolph, Pendleton and Henry Lee, and
the constitution was ratified by Virginia, the vote
standing 89 to 79, — so close a vote that the suc-
ceeding state assembly called upon congress for
a national convention to reconsider the action of
the first convention. Henry opposed Madison as
U.S. senator and succeeded in keeping his name
out of the contest. Madison was, however, elect-
ed a representative from Virginia in the 1st, 2d,
3d, and 4th congresses, 1789-97. In congress he
opposed the policy of Hamilton in relation to the
finances, but was not at first classed as a radical
Republican. He was married in Virginia, in
1794, to Dorothy (Payne) Todd, widow of John
Todd, and daughter of John and Mary (Coles)
Payne of North Carolina. President Washington
offered Mr. Madison the mission to France in
1794, which he declined, as he also did the port-
folio of state the same year. He had meanwhile
AIO/VTPELIER,
become the acknowledged leader of the Republi-
can party, and his opposition to the policy of the
administration made him the choice of that
party for the presidency in 1796, but he declined
to be a candidate and advocated the election of
Thomas Jefferson. During Adams's administra-
tion he retired to Montpelier and took no part in
the affairs of state except to express his opinion
in letters to the public press. He was the author
of the *' Resolutions of 1789," in condemnation of
the alien and sedition laws, which resolutions
were adopted by the Virginia legislature, and of
the report on the resolutions of 1798 in 1800. in "
which he defended the resolutions. He was
again elected to represent Orange county in the
Virginia assembly in 1799, and in 1800 was an elect-
or from Virginia to vote for Thomas Jefferson
for President. His writings at this time paved the
way for the inauguration of a Republican admin-
istration and when Jefferson was elected he nat-
urally turned to Madison as his chief cabinet
officer. On March 4, 1801, Madison took up the
portfolio of state and for eight years directed for-«
eign affairs. In 1809 he was elected President of
the United States, the electoral vote standing:
for President, James Madison of Virginia, Re-
publican, 122, Charles C. Pinckney of Soutli
Carolina, Federalist, 47, George Clinton of New
York, Republican, 6; for Vice-President, George
Clinton of New York, Republican, 113, Rufus
King of New York, Federalist, 47, John Lang-
don of New Hampshire, 9, James Madison, 3,
James Monroe, 3. In making up his cabinet
President Madison appointed Robert Smith of
Maryland, Jefferson's secretary of the navy and
attorney-general, as secretary of state; Albert
Gallatin of Pennsylvania secretary of the treas-
ury, which office he had also held under Jeffer-
son; William Eustis of Massachusetts, secretary
of w^ar; and Paul Hamilton of South Carolina,
secretary of the navy. The following changes
occurred in the cabinet during Madison's two ad-
ministrations: James Monroe of Virginia suc-
ceeded Secretary Smith in the state department,
April 2, 1811; Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin
resigned, and on Feb. 9, 1814, was succeeded by
George W. Campbell of Tennessee, after whose
resignation in September, 1814, Alexander J.
Dallas of Pennsylvania was appointed. Oct. 6,
1814, and w^as in turn succeeded by William H.
Crawford of Georgia, Oct. 22, 1816; in the
war department the successors of Secretary
Eustis were John Armstrong of New York,
appointed January 13, 1813; James Monroe
of Virginia, Sept. 27, 1814; Alexander J.
Dallas of Pennsylvania (acting) March 14, 1815.
and William H. Crawford of Georgia, Aug. 1,
1815; and in the navy department Secretary
Hamilton was succeeded, Jan. 12, 1813, by Will-
iam Jones of Pennsylvania, who was succeeded
by Benjamin W. Crownshield of Massachusetts,
Dec. 19, 1814. The war between France and
England affected American commerce; American
seamen were impressed in the foreign service,
and American vessels trading with France were
searched and detained by British men-of-war.
