MADISON, James, fourth president of the United
States, born at King George, Va., March
16, 1751, died at his seat of Montpelier, near
Orange Court House, Va., June 28, 1836. His
father was James Madison of Orange, a planter
of ample means and high standing, descended
from John Madison, an Englishman who settled
in Virginia about the year 1653. The maiden
name of his mother was Eleanor Conway. He
was the eldest of seven children. After receiving
a good preliminary education, he was sent
in 1769 to the college at Princeton, N. J., where
he graduated in 1771; but he remained there
until the spring of 1772, pursuing a course of
reading under Dr. Witherspoon, the president. His habits of application were so close at this period, that his health became seriously affected, and seems never to have been fully restored. In 1772 he returned to Virginia, and commenced a course of legal study, with which he mingled a large amount of miscellaneous reading and study in theology, philosophy, and belles-lettres. His attention was particularly directed to the first, and he thoroughly explored all the evidences of the Christian religion. From these pursuits he was soon diverted by public affairs. In the local contest for religious toleration, Madison distinguished himself by his zeal and activity in defence of the Baptists particularly, who with other nonconformists had been subjected to violent persecutions. In the spring of 1776 he was elected a member of the Virginia convention from the county of Orange, and procured the passage of the substance of an amendment to the declaration of rights by George Mason, which struck out the old term toleration and inserted a broader exposition of religious rights. In the same year he was a member of the general assembly, but lost his election in 1777, from his refusal to treat the voters, and the general want of confidence in his powers of oratory. The legislature, however, on meeting in November of the same year, elected him a member of the council of state; and in the winter of 1779 he was chosen by the assembly a delegate to congress. He took his seat in March, 1780, and remained in that body for three