Born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, King George County VA. Graduated from
Princeton University in 1771. Served in the Virginia Constitutional Convention and in 1780 became a delegate to the
Second Continental Congress. He was chief recorder at the
Constitutional Convention in 1787. He expressed his support for ratification through the
Federalist Papers, along with
Alexander Hamilton and
John Jay. In 1789, he was elected to the
United States House of Representatives, where he helped frame the
Bill of Rights. He also opposed the
Alien and Sedition Acts. In 1790's, he helped found the
Democratic-Republican Party, which became the
Democratic Party decades later.
In 1801, Madison became Thomas Jefferson's secretary of state. In 1808, he was elected President of the United States and re-elected in 1812, the year that the War of 1812 was declared.
In 1817, Madison retire to Montpelier, his estate, where as "the last of the fathers" he played the role of elder statesman. He became rector of the University of Virginia in 1826 and died on June 28, 1836.
