| James Madison (VA) | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 16 2011, 10:38 PM (185 Views) | |
| James Madison | May 16 2011, 10:38 PM Post #1 |
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Name: James Madison State: Virginia Birth Date: March 16, 1751 Birth Place: Port Conway, Virginia Profession: Lawyer Alma mater: Princeton University James Madison was born at Belle Grove Plantation near Port Conway, Virginia on March 16, 1751. He grew up as the oldest of twelve children, of whom nine survived. His father, James Madison, Sr., was a tobacco planter who grew up on an estate in Orange County, Virginia, which he inherited on reaching maturity. He later acquired still more property and, with 5,000 acres, became the largest landowner and leading citizen of Orange County. His mother, Nelly Conway Madison was born at Port Conway, Virginia, the daughter of a prominent planter and tobacco merchant. Madison's parents married in 1743. Both parents had a significant influence over their most famous oldest son. Madison had three brothers and three sisters who lived to maturity (by whom he had more than 30 nieces and nephews). From ages 11–16, A young "Jemmy" Madison studied under Donald Robertson, an instructor at the Innes plantation in King and Queen County, Virginia. Robertson was a Scottish teacher who flourished in the southern states. From Robertson, Madison learned mathematics, geography, and modern and ancient languages. He became especially proficient in Latin. Madison said that he owed his bent for learning "largely to that man (Robertson)." At age 16, he began a two-year course of study under the Reverend Thomas Martin, who tutored Madison at Montpelier in preparation for college. Unlike most college-bound Virginians of his day, Madison did not choose the College of William and Mary because the lowland climate of Williamsburg might have strained his delicate health. Instead, in 1769 he enrolled at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Through diligence and long hours of study that may have damaged his health, Madison graduated in 1771. His studies there included Latin, Greek, science, geography, mathematics, rhetoric, and philosophy. Great emphasis also was placed on speech and debate. After graduation, Madison remained at Princeton to study Hebrew and political philosophy under university president John Witherspoon before returning to Montpelier in the spring of 1772. Afterwards, he knew Hebrew quite well. Madison studied law sporadically but never gained admission to the bar. As a young lawyer, Madison defended Baptist preachers arrested for preaching without a license from the established Anglican Church. In addition, he worked with the preacher Elijah Craig on constitutional guarantees for religious liberty in Virginia. Working on such cases helped form his ideas about religious freedom. Madison served in the Virginia state legislature (1776–79) and became known as a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. He attained prominence in Virginia politics, helping to draft the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. It disestablished the Church of England and disclaimed any power of state compulsion in religious matters. He excluded Patrick Henry's plan to compel citizens to pay for a congregation of their own choice. James Madison persuaded Virginia to give up its claims to northwestern territories consisting of most of modern-day Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota - to the Continental Congress, which created the Northwest Territory in 1783. These land claims overlapped partially with other claims by Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and possibly others. All of these states ceded their westernmost lands, with the understanding that new states could be formed from the land, as they were. As a delegate to the Continental Congress (1780–83), Madison was considered a legislative workhorse and a master of parliamentary coalition building. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates for a second time from 1784 to 1786. Madison returned to the Virginia state legislature at the close of the war. He soon grew alarmed at the fragility of the Articles of Confederation, particularly the divisiveness of state governments, and strongly advocated a new constitution. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Madison's draft of the Virginia Plan and his revolutionary three-branch federal system became the basis for the American Constitution of today. Though Madison was a shy man, he was one of the more outspoken members of the Continental Congress. He envisioned a strong federal government that could overrule actions of the states when they were deemed mistaken. |
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| John | May 16 2011, 10:50 PM Post #2 |
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Administrator
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Approved and masked. |
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| James Price-Scott | May 17 2011, 12:19 AM Post #3 |
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Aren't RL characters not allowed? |
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| John | May 17 2011, 12:21 AM Post #4 |
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Administrator
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There will be a half dozen or so RL admin-controlled characters in the Congress in order to stimulate activity and realism. |
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| James Price-Scott | May 17 2011, 12:24 AM Post #5 |
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Gotcha, that's a fantastic idea. I was worried that we were going to be far too similar in both political disposition and in physical appearance. |
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4:51 AM Jul 11