Born March 16, 1751 in Port Conway, Virginia, Madison was to be the oldest of twelve children. When he was nine, his family relocated to Orange County, Virginia where they resided at Montpelier, their estate house. He attended preparatory school before going on to graduate from Princeton University, where he became familiar with government and history. While attending Princeton, he studied under John Witherspoon; it was his intellectual independence and moral earnestness that greatly influenced Madison. In 1776 and 1777 he was elected to the Virginia convention that declared the colony independent from Britain and drafted a new constitution. Madison believed in religious toleration to proclaim liberty of conscience for all. In 1780, at the age of 29, he became the youngest member of the Continental Congress, where he served until 1783. From 1784-86 he served as a member of

Though Madison was a shoo-in for President in the 1808 election, him and Vice-President George Clinton were not going to have an easy start. Ill- qualified secretaries were appointed in the War and Navy departments and a disloyal one in the State Department. Republican opposition in Congress, with Federalist hostility in England, thwarted policies. This was dangerous when Madison sought ways to find peace as the Napoleonic Wars reached their climax. American ships were still being invaded by the British. Madison’s devotion to republican doctrine prevented him from either grasping emergency powers or building an army but finally in 1811, with the support of the War Hawks, Madison decided the nation would move toward war with Britain unless the assaults on the ships were ended. When they weren’t, a declaration of war was declared in June 1812. He hoped that the vulnerability of Canada would lead to a swift victory. However the surrender of one American army at Detroit, the defeat of another at the Niagara River, and the retreat of yet another blasted these thoughts. The outlook improved shortly with victories at sea, but the young nation was not prepared to fight. Fearing the British invasion of the city, the people fled. Dolly Madison persisted on removing

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