James Madison

James Madison (1751–1836) was the son of a Virginia planter. He worked for the Revolutionary cause as a member of the Continental Congress and the Virginia House of Delegates. The leader of deliberations at the Constitutional Convention, he fought for the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Through an ally of Alexander Hamilton on the Constitution, he was a supporter of Thomas Jefferson's agrarian policies. He was Jefferson's secretary of state and his successor as president, but his presidency was marred by the unpopular War of 1812.