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Oil on canvas, Bradley Stevens (after Charles Willson Peale), 2002, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives |
MADISON, James, Jr., a Delegate and a Representative from Virginia and 4th President of
the United States; born in Port Conway, King George County, Va., March 16,
1751; studied under private tutors and graduated from the College of New Jersey
(now Princeton University) in 1771; member of the committee of safety from
Orange County in 1774; delegate in the Williamsburg (Va.) convention of May
1776; member of the First General Assembly of Virginia in 1776 and was
unanimously elected a member of the executive council in 1778; Member of the
Continental Congress 1780-1783 and 1787-1788; delegate in the Federal
Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1787; elected to as an
Anti-Administration candidate to the First Congress, Second and Third
Congresses and reelected as a Republican to the Fourth Congress (March 4,
1789-March 3, 1797); declined the mission to France, tendered by President
Washington in 1794, and also the position of Secretary of State, tendered the
same year; again a member of the Virginia Assembly from Orange County in 1799;
appointed by President Jefferson as Secretary of State on March 5, 1801;
entered upon the duties of that office May 2, 1801, and served until March 4,
1809; elected President of the United States in 1808; reelected in 1812 and
served from March 4, 1809, to March 3, 1817; retired to his estate,
Montpelier, Orange County, Va.; delegate in the Virginia constitutional
convention of 1829; rector of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville and
visitor to the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va.; died at
Montpelier on June 28, 1836; interment in the private cemetery of Montpelier.
BibliographyPadover, Saul Kussiel, ed.
The Complete Madison: His Basic Writings. New York: Harper,
1953; Wills, Garry.
James Madison. New York: Times Books, 2002.
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