NHD Annotation #3

Life Before the Presidency

MLA style: editor: J.C.A. Stagg
Gerald L.Baliles. "Life Before the Presidency." Miller Center of Public Affairs. Charlottesville, VA: Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2008.

Web Site: http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/madison/essays/biography/2

- On this site, just about enough information was given about James Madison. Madison was raised on a plantation in sight of the Blue Mountains of V.A. He was born on March 16 1751, who was asickly child who never strayed far from his mother's side. James Madison name came from his father's, James Madison Sr.,acquired substantial wealth by inheritanceand also by his marriage to Nelly Conway, the daughter of a rich tobacco merchant. James Madison most important childhood memories would be his fears of Indian attacks during the Freand and Indian War >dated: 1754 to 1762<>
- Also, James Madison suffered from psychosomatic (stress-induced), seizures (something like epileptic fits), that overwhelmed him on and off throughout his younger years.
- Madison had seven younger siblings who loved & respected him.
Earning Political Respect and Clout
- Age twenty-nine, Madison became the youngest member of the Continental Congress. At first start, Madison was the small, soft-spoken, shy young man had emerged as a respected leader of the group/body.
- No one ever came to a meeting more prepared than Madison.
- he argued vigorously for legislation to strengthen the loose confederacy of former colonies, contending that military victory required vesting power in a central government.
- Madison battled Patrick Henry's attempts to tax citizens in support of the Christian religion, when he had returned to the V.A. House of Delegates in 1784.
Father Of the U.S. Constitution
- 'Madison led the Virginia delegation to the Philadelphia meeting, which began on May 14, 1787, and supported the cry for General George Washington to act as its chair. When Washington accepted, the body achieved the moral authority it needed to draft a new constitution for the nation.'
- The Virginia Plan that James Madison submitted by Delegate Edmund Randolph (was the governor of Virginia) became the essential blueprint for the Constitution that eventually emerged. 'Its major features included a bicameral national legislature with the lower house directly elected by the people, an executive chosen by the legislature, and an independent judiciary including a Supreme Court.'
- September 1787 was when Madison had emerged from the Constitutional Convention as the most impressive and persuasive manner in favor of a new constitution.
- Eventually James Madison earned the title to be called the "Father of the Constitution".
- When the document was present to the states for ratification, Madison and Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, published a series of newspaper essays that became known as the Federalist Papers
- Succeeding ratification, Madison confronted his old opponent Patrick Henry, who was successfully keeping Madison from gaining in the newly created U.S. Senate.
- 'Madison won election to the U.S. House of Representatives over James Monroe in 1789'.
- Madison served as Washington's chief supporter in the House. Working endless on the president's policies and politics.
- Madison introduced and guided to passage the first ten amendments to the Constitution which was ratified in 1791
- The first ten amendments are also called the Bill of Rights.
- Bill of Rights protected civil liberties and augmented the checks and balances within the Constitution.
- Madison would secure constitutional protections for various fundamental human rights -- religious liberty, freedom of speech, and due process, among others -- unreasonable, unsupported, or impulsive governmental authority
- &&& much more!


a. This article was more then enough infromation. It really told a lot.
b. This article was secondary because it was not the actual exact info.
c. The intended audience was people taht wnted to ne informed about James Madison.
d. ???