James Madison

James Madison grew up on the Montpelier plantation in Virginia and became one of the main designers of the U.S. Constitution. He drafted the Virginia Plan that framed debate at the 1787 Convention, co-wrote The Federalist Papers and, in the First Congress, drafted the amendments that became the Bill of Rights. With Thomas Jefferson he founded the Democratic-Republican opposition to Hamilton's Federalists. He served as Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809 and as President from 1809 to 1817, leading the country through the War of 1812.

Madison is often called the Father of the Constitution, and admirers credit him with the theory of checks and balances, the Bill of Rights and an influential defense of religious freedom. Scholars of pluralism and constitutional design continue to draw on Federalist No. 10 and No. 51. Critics note shifts in his positions, from nationalist in 1787 to states'-rights advocate in the 1798 Virginia Resolutions and then to signing a national bank in 1816. His handling of the War of 1812, which saw the burning of Washington, is also debated. Madison enslaved people at Montpelier throughout his life. According to the Miller Center, he considered slavery evil but spent little political capital ending it, and he served as president of the American Colonization Society, which promoted emancipation combined with resettlement outside the United States. His will did not free the people he enslaved.