James Madison, who was born on 16th March 1751 at Belle Grove Plantation in Virginia, was the fourth United States’ president between the year 1809 and 1817. He was among the United States of America’s Founding Fathers. He was a political theorist as well as a statesman of America. At the 1787 Convention on Constitution, he impacted the setting up and consent of the United States’ Constitution and cooperated with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton in the Federalist papers publication. As a new House of Representatives member, he patronized the initial 10 Constitutional amendments, normally referred to as the Bill of Rights (Ralph).
Upon the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson as the United States of America’s president in the year 1801, James Madison was appointed as the secretary of state. It was during this period while serving as the secretary of state that the purchase of Louisiana Territory from France was achieved under his supervision. This doubled the size of the United States.
During the start of his administration, Madison tried to impose the Non-Intercourse Act that permitted United States to engage in business with all countries excluding Great Britain and France due to the assails on American merchant vessels by the two countries. Madison proposed to trade with these countries if they would halt pestering American ships. The two nations did not agree to this proposal. In the year 1810, Macon's Bill No. 2 was enacted, which revoked the Non-Intercourse Act and stated that the country that would halt the harassment of the American ships would be preferred. It further stated that the US would terminate trade with the other country.
As president of the time, following the lack of success of diplomatic resists and an embargo, he headed the United States into the 1812 War, in reaction to British impingements on the rights of America. This War was not supported unanimously. In the long run, Madison who was the key author of the Constitution attempted not to transgress the limits that were set before him as he understood them.
As a youthful man, James Madison saw the discrimination of Baptist priests who were apprehended bee of preaching with no license from the set up Anglican Church. He worked hand in hand with Elijah Craig on guarantees of the constitution for the liberty of religion in Virginia (Ralph). Dealing with such issues assisted in formation of his ideas concerning freedom of religion.
Madison was the representative of the Virginia state legislature between the year 1776 and 1779 during which he came to be referred as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. He accomplished eminence in the politics of Virginia, aiding in drafting the Religious Freedom Virginia Statute. It disestablished the England Church and renounced any state coercion power in issues related to religion. He prohibited the plan by Patrick Henry to force nationals to pay for a faithful of their own selection.
James Madison ruled during a crucial period. Although America did not terminate the 1812War as the final winner, it ended with an independent as well as stronger economy. As the Constitution author, determinations made throughout his reign as the head of his nation, were on the basis of his apprehension of the constitution. He was well esteemed in his time because of not just writing the constitution but also administrating it (Ralph).
Works Cited
Ralph, Louis Ketcham. James Madison: A Biography. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 1971.
