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美國100位歷史名人榜(13)：憲法之父James Madison

James Madison(March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American politician and political philosopher

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James Madison(March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American politician and political philosopher who served as the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817) and is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

The "Father of the Constitution," he was the principal author of the document. In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution. The first president to have served in the United States Congress, he was a leader in the 1st United States Congress, drafting many basic laws, and was responsible for the first ten amendments to the Constitution (said to be based on the Virginia Declaration of Rights) and thus is also known as the "Father of the Bill of Rights".As a political theorist, Madison's most distinctive belief was that the new republic needed checks and balances to protect individual rights from the tyranny of the majority.

As leader in the House of Representatives, Madison worked closely with President George Washington to organize the new federal government. Breaking with Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton in 1791, Madison and Thomas Jefferson organized what they called the Republican Party (later called the Democratic-Republican Party)[8] in opposition to key policies of the Federalists, especially the national bank and the Jay Treaty. He secretly co-authored, along with Thomas Jefferson, the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions in 1798 to protest the Alien and Sedition Acts.

As Jefferson's Secretary of State (1801–1809), Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the nation's size, and sponsored the ill-fated Embargo Act of 1807. As president, he led the nation into the War of 1812 against Great Britain. During and after the war, Madison reversed many of his positions. By 1815, he supported the creation of the second National Bank, a strong military, and a high tariff to protect the new factories opened during the war.

Early political career
As a young lawyer, Madison defended Baptist preachers arrested for preaching without a license from the established Anglican Church. In addition, he worked with the preacher Elijah Craig on constitutional guarantees for religious liberty in Virginia.[10] Working on such cases helped form his ideas about religious freedom. Madison served in the Virginia state legislature (1776–79) and became known as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. He attained prominence in Virginia politics, helping to draft the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It disestablished the Church of England, and disclaimed any power of state compulsion in religious matters. He excluded Patrick Henry's plan to compel citizens to pay for a congregation of their own choice.

Madison's cousin, the Right Reverend James Madison (1749–1812), became president of the College of William & Mary in 1777. Working closely with Madison and Jefferson, Bishop Madison helped lead the College through the difficult changes involving separation from both Great Britain and the Church of England. He also led college and state actions that resulted in the formation of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia after the Revolution.

James Madison persuaded Virginia to give up its claims to northwestern territories consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota - to the Continental Congress, which created the Northwest Territory in 1783. These land claims overlapped partially with other claims by Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and maybe others. All of these states ceded their westernmost lands, with the understanding that new states could be formed from the land, as they were. As a delegate to the Continental Congress (1780–83), Madison was considered a legislative workhorse and a master of parliamentary coalition building. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for a second time from 1784 to 1786.

Father of the Constitution
Madison returned to the Virginia state legislature at the close of the war. He soon grew alarmed at the fragility of the Articles of Confederation, particularly the divisiveness of state governments, and strongly advocated a new constitution. At the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, Madison's draft of the Virginia Plan and his revolutionary three-branch federal system became the basis for the American Constitution of today. Though Madison was a shy man, he was one of the more outspoken members of the Continental Congress. He envisioned a strong federal government that could overrule actions of the states when they were deemed mistaken; later in life he came to admire the US Supreme Court as it started filling that role.

Federalist Papers
To encourage ratification of the Constitution, Madison joined Alexander Hamilton and John Jay to write the Federalist Papers in 1787 and 1788. Among other contributions, Madison wrote paper #10, in which he explained how a large country with many different interests and factions could support republican values better than a small country dominated by a few special interests. His interpretation was largely ignored at the time, but in the twentieth century became a central part of the pluralist interpretation of American politics.

In Virginia in 1788, Madison led the fight for ratification at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, debating with Patrick Henry and others who sought revisions (such as the United States Bill of Rights) before its ratification. Madison is often referred to as the "Father of the Constitution" for his role in its drafting and ratification. However, he protested the title as being "a credit to which I have no claim... The Constitution was not, like the fabled Goddess of Wisdom, the offspring of a single brain. It ought to be regarded as the work of many heads and many hands".

He wrote Hamilton at the New York ratifying convention, stating his opinion that "ratification was in toto and 'for ever'". The Virginia convention had considered conditional ratification worse than a rejection.

Presidency 1809–1817
Bank of the United States
The twenty-year charter of the first Bank of the United States was scheduled to expire in 1811, the second year of Madison's administration. Madison failed in blocking the Bank in 1791, and waited for its charter to expire. Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin wanted the bank rechartered, and when the War of 1812 broke out, he discovered how difficult it was to finance the war without the Bank. Gallatin's successor as Treasury Secretary, Alexander J. Dallas, proposed a replacement in 1814, but Madison vetoed the bill in 1815. By late 1815, however, Madison asked Congress for a new bank, which had strong support from the younger, nationalistic Republicans such as John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay, as well as Federalist Daniel Webster. Madison signed it into law in 1816, creating the Second Bank of the United States appointed William Jones as its president.

詹姆士·麥迪森（1751—1836年），美國第四任總統。他擔任總統期間曾領導進行第二次美英戰爭，保衛了美國的共和制度，為美國贏得徹底獨立建立了功績。他在1776年參加維吉尼亞憲法的制定，在大陸的國會提供，並且是維吉尼亞會議的一位領導人。他還是出席大陸會議的代表，是制憲會議的著名人物、北部聯邦黨人檔的起草人之一、眾議院議員、民主共和黨的組織者。

個人影響
制憲　　
他在1776年參加維吉尼亞憲法的制定，在大陸的國會提供，並且是維吉尼亞會議的詹姆斯·麥迪森一位領導人。他還是出席大陸會議的代表，是制憲會議的著名人物、北部聯邦黨人檔的起草人之一、眾議院議員、民主共和黨的組織者。麥迪森和漢密爾頓、約翰·傑伊在憲法誕生後，一起寫了一系列的文章，為憲法的批准做出了重大的貢獻。麥迪森是美國傑出的政治哲學家，是美國憲法的奠基人，他與約翰·傑伊及阿曆山大·漢密爾頓共同編寫《聯邦党人文集》，被稱為美國“憲法之父”，他的主張和三權分立學說迄今仍是美國憲法的指導原則。他和傑弗遜共同創建和領導了民主共和黨，使美國開始形成了兩黨政治。　　

制憲會議在費城，36歲的麥迪森把頻繁和顯著的部分加在辯論內。麥迪森與亞歷山大·漢密爾頓和約翰·傑伊，聯邦主義者散文的憲法做了較大的對照。在晚些年，他被稱為"憲法之父"，在國會，他幫助修改權利法案，制定第一個收入立法。從他的領導當中反對漢密爾頓的金融提議，他感到將過於向北方的金融家給予財富和能力，變成共和黨人的發展。當時總統傑弗遜國務卿，麥迪森給交戰法國和英國抗議他們的美國船的被扣押，與國際法律相反。儘管1807年不受歡迎的禁止行動，這沒使交戰的國家改變他們的方式，但是引起了美國的消沉，麥迪森在1808年被選舉為總統。他廢除了EmbargoAct。