...James Madison (1751-1863) is one of the nation's key founding fathers is a notable man in America history that is known to be the “Father of the Constitution” also served two terms as America's forth President. James Madison was born on March 16,1751 at Belle Grove Plantation in Virginia. He attended Princeton University. In 1780, James Madison became the youngest member of the continent congress and was instrumental in arranging the 1787 national convention to write a constitution for the new nation. James Madison came up with this idea known as the Virginia Plan before the Continent Congress meeting began. (Ketcham, Ralph) The Virginia Plan was a system for bicameral legislature which gave representation on population in the House of Representatives and to the states in the senate....
Words: 501 - Pages: 3
...James Madison was born March 16, 1751. He was born in Virginia and grew up in a town of Montpelier. He was known as the Father of the Constitution. Madison made a major contribution to the ratification the Constitution by writing, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, the Federalists essays. Then in 1787, he represented Virginia at the Constitution Convention. He expressed his ideas forming a three-part federal government, consisting of executive, legislative, and judicial branches. He thought it was important to have this new structure of government so they could have a system of checks and balances, in order to prevent the abuse of power by any one group. Madison’s ideas were included in the Constitution. He wrote many persuasive letters...
Words: 552 - Pages: 3
...Madison was the fourth president of the United States and is known as the Father of the Constitution. He helped to build the U.S. Constitution in the late 1700s. James Madison created the foundation for the Bill of Rights, and later on was President Thomas Jefferson's secretary of state. He also served two terms as a president of the United States. Madison was born in 1751 and grew up in Orange County, Virginia. He was the oldest one out of 12 children. Madison’s father, James, a successful planter and owner of a large number of slaves, was also an influential figure in county affairs. In 1762, Madison was sent to a live-in school in King and Queen County, Virginia. He would encounter health issues during the time that he was there, and this concerned him and his father. Madison came back to his home in Orange County after five years. Having health issues, Madison did follow school as everyone else, but rather he got home tutoring. Two years later in 1769, Madison finally enrolled at the College of New Jersey—now known as Princeton College. Even why graduating in 1771, he only returned to Virginia in 1772. During...
Words: 889 - Pages: 4
...James Madison is considered to be one of the United States founding fathers. He was a Secretary of State to Thomas Jefferson and went on to become the 4th US President of the United States. James Madison was Born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia to Nellie Conway Madison and James Madison Sr. He was the oldest of 12 children of which only seven survived. He was homeschooled until the age of 11 when he was sent to a boarding school run by Reverend Thomas Martin in preparation for college. He returned to his father's estate called “Montpelier” in Orange County, Virginia five years later and continued his studies for two more years. At the age of 18 in 1769 he enrolled at the College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton. He studied science, geography, mathematics, rhetoric, Latin, Greek and philosophy. He also studied the art of debating and public speech. Madison helped found the American Whig Society. The Society was a political and debate society and the oldest debate union in the United States. He helped create the Whig Society to compete with Aaron Burr's Cliosophic Society. Later to two groups would merge and become the American Whig Cliosophic Society. Madison Graduated in 1771 , however he stayed there...
Words: 1176 - Pages: 5
...James Madison, the fourth president of the united states. He was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, took office as the Fourth President of the United States on March 4, 1809 at age Fifty-Seven. Madison served in office for Eight years and did not seek reelection after his second term. He was born in King George County, VA and received an education from Princeton University. Born in 1751, Madison grew up in Orange County, Virginia. He was the oldest of twelve children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. His father, James, was a successful planter and owned more than three thousand acres of land and dozens of slaves. He was also an influential figure in county affairs. His father had him stay home and receive private tutoring because he was concerned about Madison's health. He would experience mounds of ill health throughout his life. After two years, Madison went to college in 1769, enrolling at the College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton University. In 1809 Madison succeeded...
Words: 400 - Pages: 2
...direction of greater equality and democracy. The American Revolution did not overturn the social order, but it did produce substantial changes in social customs, political institutions, and ideas about society and government. Among the changes were the separation of church and state in some places, the abolition of slavery in the North, written political constitutions, and a shift in political power from the eastern seaboard toward the frontier. The first weak government, the Articles of Confederation, was unable to exercise real authority, although it did successfully deal with the western lands issue. The Confederation’s weakness in handling foreign policy, commerce and the Shays Rebellion spurred the movement to alter the Articles. Instead of revising the Articles, the well-off delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a charter for a whole new government. In a series of compromises, the convention produced a plan that provided for a vigorous central government, a strong executive, the protection for property, while still upholding republican principles and states’ rights. The Federalists met strong opposition from Anti-Federalists, especially in Virginia and New York, but through effective organization and argument, they succeeded in getting the Constitution ratified. By establishing the new national government, the Federalists checked the Revolutionary values of the popular republican government. Terms/names/topics:...
Words: 3481 - Pages: 14
...Branches of Government Branches of Government The United States of America is run by our country’s Constitution. After the American Revolution, the newly named Americans realized the need for government and law. Our Constitution, once put into place, establishes three branches of government. It is important for all of Americans to understand why the founding fathers decided on three branches of government. It is also important to know what obstacles the division of power present for enactment of important legislation and how conflict has been characterized between supporters of a strong federal government and the supporters of state rights both in the past and now. The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 by James Madison. This is considered the main law of the land. Any laws made for the country must agree with the Constitution. James Madison is the father of the constitution. Madison was the one that came up with the conspire that one branch could not have complete control. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether on or a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-pronounced to very definition of tranny” (Spaeth & Segal 1999). This is when our three branches were born. In the Executive Branch we have our President, vice president, and all of the cabinet. Our president is allowed to make or laws, pass, or veto them. The legislative Branch has 435 representatives and 100 senators forming a party of 535 members...
Words: 1616 - Pages: 7
... Tocqueville discusses the hypocrisies in America that the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were against. The Federalists strongly believed that the newly founded republic needed a large, centralized government in order to discourage tyranny of the majority. Hamilton voices this opinion when he says “a firm Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection.” (Hamilton, 66, Federalist No. 9) This is because a large, centralized government uses the system of the checks and balances, which prevent domestic faction and revolt. The Federalists made it clear that they opposed a mob ruling and the minorities being denied their rights. The main danger the new republic faced, they argued, was the superior force of an “interested and overbearing majority.” (Madison, 72, No. 10) The Federalists solution on how to deal with majority faction is to “extend the sphere and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests; you make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the rights of other citizens; or if such a common motive exists, it will be more difficult for all who feel it to discover their own strength and to act in unison with each other.” (Madison, 78, No. 10) While tyranny of...
Words: 1795 - Pages: 8
...To replace the British system of government, the new nation needed to form a governing body and begin to rebuild the colonies after the Revolutionary War. The first attempt at providing the new fledging nation with such a government was established around The Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation were developed and written in Philadelphia at the second meeting of the Continental Congress in 1777. The Articles were ratified and became effective in 1781. However, their existence was short lived as major flaws, limitations and discrepancies were mounting. These gave way to the Articles being scrapped altogether and a new governing document being written called the U.S. Constitution. Many have called the Articles of Confederation America's first failure at government. Unification The articles of the confederation was a weak attempt at best, by a new country to try an unite itself and form a government of its own after overthrowing the British tyranny of the previous decade. Under the Articles of Confederation each state had the right to make its own rules and laws, separate from the central government. There was no taxing powers given to Congress, Congress had no power over interstate or foreign commerce. Each state had one vote in Congress, regardless of the states size or population. That in itself was a problem for the larger states who had bigger populations, who were expected to contribute more but still only had one vote. Any amendments...
Words: 1602 - Pages: 7
...basis for the United States government. Going into the War and then coming out, the Founding Fathers were more united than ever. However, the seven had a relationship more comparable to brothers, and, like any siblings, they did not always get along. When written, the main idea of Founding Brothers had a strong purpose and a specific audience to reach, but, despite having its flaws, this book is, and will remain, a current topic for a wider audience. Joseph Ellis began his historical education by pursuing his Bachelors from the College of William & Mary, and then going on to get his Masters and Doctorate at Yale University. He first taught at a military academy at West Point, but he currently teaches at Mount Holyoke College. Having a wife and three sons, he now contributes to many national publications on a regular basis, including, but not limited to: The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. As an American historian, Ellis has received nationwide appraisal; in fact, he won the Pulitzer Prize for...
Words: 1350 - Pages: 6
...and approval of the electoral college by the Constitutional Committee in 1787 resulted in an electoral system whereby the election of the president, every 4 years, is determined by members of the electoral college and not the popular vote. Each state receives a number of electoral college votes (number of state congress members) and this is amended every 10 years to reflect changes in state populations. However, there is a growing movement to abolish and replace the current Presidential electoral system with a more democratic system that more accurately reflects the popular vote. Firstly, to understand why the electoral college became the chosen system, it is important to understand the issues faced by the Constitutional committee. James Madison wrote at the time "There was one difficulty however of a serious nature attending an immediate choice by the people. The right of suffrage was much more diffusive in the Northern than the Southern States; and the latter could have no influence in the election on the score of Negroes. The substitution of electors obviated this difficulty and seemed on the whole to be liable to the fewest objections." Therefore, whilst many members acknowledged that a nationwide popular vote would be ideal, state conflict over the rights of slaves, which divided the nation, was the ultimate deciding factor in the choice of electoral system. However, there were other highly influential factors in the choice. Not least of which was the idea of 'mobocracy'-a...
Words: 1903 - Pages: 8
...Both sectionalism and nationalism are very prevalent in American history. James Monroe and John Adams, both previous political figures of the United States, are nationalists. What is sectionalism and nationalism? Sectionalism is the placing of the interests of one's own region ahead of the interests of the nation as a whole. Nationalism is the ideology that national interests come before regional and foreign concerns. Monroe takes pride in America, saying, “If we look to the history of other nations, ancient or modern, we find no example of a growth so rapid, so gigantic, of a people so prosperous and happy.” Adams is also nationalist, but is wary of the sectionalism taking place, saying, “I take it for granted that the present question is...
Words: 1164 - Pages: 5
...George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton, believe in a strong central government to run this nation. We believe in a nationalistic view of our nation and in the cooperation and support of the citizens living in on this land. The laws, rules, and acts that are enacted under this government are made to benefit the nation, not to oppress the people. We hope to establish a nation that is well off, one that is stable in all aspects. As Federalists, we understand the importance of certain acts that are being passed, such as the Alien and Sedition Acts. We understand the need for Hamilton’s Financial Plan, a plan that will overall help this nation prosper, and we understand the need for...
Words: 1546 - Pages: 7
...Most thinkers, educational practitioners, and parents acknowledge that children are born helpless and need the care and guidance of adults into their teens and often beyond. More specifically, children need to learn how to live harmoniously in society. Historically, the mission of schools has been to develop in the young both the intellectual and the moral virtues. Concern for the moral virtues, such as honesty, responsibility, and respect for others, is the domain of moral education. Moral education, then, refers to helping children acquire those virtues or moral habits that will help them individually live good lives and at the same time become productive, contributing members of their communities. In this view, moral education should contribute not only to the students as individuals, but also to the social cohesion of a community. The word moral comes from a Latin root (mos, moris) and means the code or customs of a people, the social glue that defines how individuals should live together. A Brief History of Moral Education Every enduring community has a moral code and it is the responsibility and the concern of its adults to instill this code in the hearts and minds of its young. Since the advent of schooling, adults have expected the schools to contribute positively to the moral education of children. When the first common schools were founded in the New World, moral education was the prime concern. New England Puritans believed the moral code resided in the Bible...
Words: 1981 - Pages: 8
...Federal Government Exam 1 Review: The first exam will consist of questions generated from the following review sheet. Make sure you understand each of these topics before proceeding to the test. The exam will be timed so you will not have the ability to peruse your notes or retake the exam. The exam itself will consist of 30 multiple choice questions and you will have 35 minutes to complete the exam. Federalism: The Basic elements of a Federal system of government (i.e. how is it structured/how power is shared) • Layers of gov • Equal power • Distinct powers Powers of the federal government: delegated powers, implied powers (necessary and proper clause), and concurrent powers. • Delegated Powers: (expressed/enumerated powers) powers given to the federal government directly by the constitution. Some most important delegated powers are: the authority to tax, regulated interstate commerce, authority to declare war, and grants the president role of commander and chief of the military • Implied Powers: Powers not expressed in the constitution, but that can be inferred. “Necessary and proper clause” • Concurrent powers: powers shared by both levels of government. Ex: Taxes, roads, elections, commerce, establishing courts and a judicial system • Reserved powers: powers not assigned by the constitution to the national government but left to the states or the people. Guaranteed by the 10th amendment. Include “police power”-health and public...
Words: 37488 - Pages: 150
