James Madison: A Life Reconsidered (57 page)

Serving in the Continental Congress, James Madison, although in his early thirties, looked much younger. One member thought he was a recent college graduate.

Madison’s 1783 romance with Kitty Floyd ended badly, and she changed her mind about marrying him.

George Washington presides as a delegate signs the Constitution in September 1787. Madison, holding a quill, is to the right of Washington.

Madison’s first contribution to
The Federalist
is his most famous. In
Federalist
10, defying conventional wisdom, he argued that a large republic would better protect minority rights than a small one.

Alexander Hamilton worked with Madison to produce
The Federalist,
but they later became fierce opponents.

Madison wrote Washington’s first inaugural address and was his most influential adviser as the new government began.

By this time of this portrait in 1792, Madison was the powerful leader of the House of Representatives. Always simpler in his dress than his fellow Virginians, he would eventually wear only black.

In 1794, Madison, one of the nation’s most prominent politicians, wooed and won the glamorous widow Dolley Payne Todd. Ten years later, after Madison had become secretary of state, Gilbert Stuart painted their portraits.

Madison’s father built the original brick home at Montpelier.

After his marriage, Madison built an addition to the left with a separate entrance for him and his family. His parents lived in the original part of the house to the right.

As president, Madison added a central doorway, which together with the portico unified the structure. He also added wings.

Thomas Jefferson won the presidential election of 1800 with Madison’s help, but it was close. Jefferson’s intended vice president, Aaron Burr, received an equal number of electoral votes.

The refusal of Burr, shown here, to give way to Jefferson threw the election into the House of Representatives, destroyed Burr’s political career, and made Madison, whom Jefferson had named secretary of state, the likely successor to the presidency.