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Why do you hate Christopher Columbus?
Columbus didn't prove the world wasn't flat.
Why do you hate Christopher Columbus?
What didya think Madison was gonna do? His mom was born, lived and grew up on the plantation. She lived to be 97 years old, she died in 1829. By that time, Madison was almost 80 and in bad health.
That's why he left his papers, including his notes from the Cons utional Convention to Dolley when he died in 1836. The papers were worth over $100,000.
Dolley was supposed to use some of that that money to free the slaves. Remember, Madison was supporting 2/3 of the slaves. 2/3 of the slaves were too old, too young, or too infirm to do much work. Of the remaining 1/3, half were women who were pregnant half the time, or taking care of kids. Madison's plantation was not profitable. The soil was depleted from growing tobacco, which depletes soil quickly. Western lands were producing many crops, driving down prices.
James Madison did the best he could.
He wrote the first draft of the US Cons ution, the Virginia Plan, and was the Father of the Cons ution, securing our liberty.
He wrote the Bill-of-Rights, securing our liberty. Madison's Bill-of-Rights was the first one in history to be legally enforcible, and was the most comprehensive.
He co-wrote the Federalist Papers, the greatest commentary ever on the Cons ution, preventing later generations from twisting the text of the Cons ution.
Madison wrote Federalist # 10, the most famous Federalist Paper, and the most famous political essay in American history. This regarded the nature of factions in government.
Madison, along with Jefferson, are the two most quotable Founding Fathers. For great quotes on liberty, they have no peer. For great quotes on the nature of government, Madison has no peer in world history.
Madison organized the Cons utional Convention of 1787. He secured ratification in the key states of New York and Virginia.
Madison took the only detailed notes of the Cons utional Convention. Because of Madison, we know exactly what the Founding Fathers were thinking when they wrote the Cons ution. The US Cons ution is the only Cons ution in history with detailed notes like this extant.
He wrote the 1st draft of Washington's Farewell Address, the most significant statement of foreign policy in US history.
He wrote the 1st draft of the Monroe doctrine (1823), the most influential foreign policy statement of all time.
He won Marbury vs Madison, the most important Supreme Court case of all time, establishing judicail review.
He orchestrated Thomas Jefferson's election to president in 1800, known as the Revolution of 1800.
He helped orchestrate the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark expedition as Secretary of State under Thomas Jefferson.
He was the Commander-in-Chief during the War of 1812, the war that secured our economic liberty by opening up the Great Lakes, Atlantic ocean, Mississippi river, Gulf of Mexicao, and the West Indies to free trade, free from British interference. He did this while also following th Cons ution. All future presidents violated the Cons ution during war and used war propaganda. Not Madison.
Madison, while in the Virginia legislatue, in 1776 (age only 25), helped write the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and wrote the clause on religious freedom, the strongest clause ever written.
10 years later, Madison pushed the Virginia statute on religious freedom (written by Jefferson) through the legislature, while Jefferson was in Europe. This was the first statute of its kind on religious liberty in history.
Madison & Jefferson, in retirement, founded the University of Virginia, the first university in the United States not founded by a church.
In 1829, Madison again attended the Virginia Cons utional Convention, and pushed for changes that allowed more democracy and less slavery. Following this, in 1832, Madison's friends in the Virginia legislature pushed for the emancipation of the slaves.
In 1774, Madison was elected to the Virginia Committee on safety, to supply the coming revolution. Although too sickly to be a soldier, he still was commissioned as a colonel, trained in military drills, and marched with the militia. He was at the center of the revolution in Virginia through 1779, then he was elected to the Con ental congress. He was the youngest man there, age 28.
From 1780 to 1783, during the end to the war and the Peace Treay nego iations, Madison emerged as the LEADER of the Continental congress. He wrote state papers and never once, MISSED A SINGLE DAY of work, then only man to do this.
Madison also organized and attended the influential Annapolis Convention of 1786, the forerunner to the Cons utional Convention.
He also organized the Mount Vernon Conference, the forerunner to the Annaoplis Convention.
Madison learned to read French, Spanish, Italian, ancient Greek, and Latin when he was 8 years old. He was very smart.
Madison wrote the Virgina Resolution on 1798, the most eloquent and balanced statement of states rights ever written.
He also wrote the Report of 1800, the 2nd most important staement on state's rights and the most important essay ever on freedom of the press.
Madison did all this for your liberty, and more.
Between 1828 and 1834, Madison, while a very old man, almost single-handidly prevented Civil War. Madison worked with leaders of the North and South, including Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster, to solve the crisis.
Madison was the Leader and most important member of the 1st congress on 1789, in which the first federal laws were written, including setting up all the basic laws of our nation, setting up the court system, etc.
Madison's 2nd cousin was war hero and 12th president Zachery Taylor.
James Madison was modest. He never bragged. And he had the hottest wife with the biggest knockers in Washington DC; Dolley Madison.
Madison has more cities, towns and counties named after him than any other president in history.
James MADISON is the ARCHITECT of the AMERICAN REPUBLIC.
James Madison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison
James Madison Liberty Quotes
http://home.att.net/~midnightflyer/madison.html
Last edited by Galileo; 10-20-2009 at 02:27 PM.
The slaves took over and revolted in Haiti in 1790. They drove the whites off the plantation. Look how ed up that country is. It has been a cesspool of corruption for 219 years. The per captia gross national product is $300 per year. They have no Cons ution. A lot of good freeing the slaves did for them down there.
If he was so against slavery, I would think he'd have freed his hundred or so slaves.
So you are pro slavery now?
I think Madison would be disappointed in you.
And Haiti does have a cons ution.
From Rouseau's letter to Geneva:
"Peoples once accustomed to masters are not in a condition to do without them. If they attempt to shake off the yoke, they still more estrange themsevles from freedom, as, by misatking for it an unbridled license to which it is diametrically opposed, they nearly always manage, by their revolutions, to hand themselves over to seducers, who only make their chains heavier than before"
That's not to say slavery is a good thing... but there is something to be said for a gradual transition to freedom as opposed to Haiti's shock treatment. Especially when there is chaos. It's hard for democracy to form from chaos, you usually need an iron fisted ass hole to get things in check and then from there transition.
What a dumbass argument. There are not slaves or former slaves alive
to verify what occured and those that don't like the results of slavery
are now free to travel to whatever country they prefer to live.
I think we now have a half-black man as President.
He did not want his wife to be thrown off the plantation. He left her his papers, which she sold for $100,000. That was enough money for her to take care of the slaves and shut down the plantation, and still support herself.
Instead, Dolly wasted money and the slaves suffered.
Dolly Madison was supposed to free the slaves. Some of them were freed.
Instead, they had to wait for the Civil War.
Last edited by Galileo; 10-20-2009 at 03:20 PM.
Why didn't Madison free any slaves himself?
Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ arose out of the June 2007 Montpelier Slave Descendents Reunion hosted by James Madison's Montpelier. If you have any further questions please use our contact form, selecting "Education" as the contact department. Please be aware of our research inquiry policies when you contact us.
Please click on one of the questions, below:
How many enslaved people lived at Montpelier during the Madison period?
Background on the history of slavery at Montpelier.
How many slaves did President James Madison own?
Where did the slaves work and live at Montpelier?
Did President James Madison ever free any of his slaves?
Did any of Madison's slaves run away or ever try to run away?
What do we know about Madison as a slave owner?
What do we know about modern descendants of Montpelier slaves?
What were some of the religious practices of the Montpelier slaves?
How many enslaved people lived at Montpelier during the Madison period?
Ambrose Madison in 1732 had 29 slaves. (Inventory at death.)
James Madison, Sr., in 1801 had 108 slaves. (Inventory at death.)
President James Madison in 1820 had 106 slaves.
President James Madison in 1830 had 97 slaves.
Background on the history of slavery at Montpelier
In 1723 Ambrose Madison and Thomas Chew received a patent for 4,600 acres in the Virginia Piedmont. The plantation was initially named "Mount Pleasant," and the house that came to be known as Montpelier was not actually built until the 1760s. Ambrose sent his slaves and an overseer to develop the land long before his family moved there in 1732. Thus, slaves were probably the first inhabitants of the Madison family estate.
In 1732 Ambrose died as a result of poisoning. Court do ents reveal that three slaves were accused of conspiring to murder him, two of which, Dido and Turk, were owned by Ambrose, and the third, Pompey, was leased from a local landowner. Dido was a female slave and the other two were males. All were tried and convicted of murder. Pompey was sentenced to death by hanging. Dido and Turk were sentenced to be whipped and then returned to Mount Pleasant to Ambrose's window, Frances Taylor Madison.
James Madison, Sr., inherited the estate when he came of age, but did not officially take over total management of the plantation until the death of his mother Frances in 1761.
James Madison, Sr., cultivated tobacco as his primary source of economic support, but he added other ventures for profit such as a grist mill, a saw mill, whiskey and brandy distillation, and a blacksmith shop. All of these activities relied on the use of slave labor and probably slave supervision as well. Most of our knowledge about these ventures come from ledger books that James Madison, Sr., kept throughout his ownership of Montpelier (1740s to 1801). Mentions of slaves are mainly confined to accounts of Madison leasing slave labor to other people or acquiring goods or services for his slaves.
According to his inventory, James Madison, Sr., owned 108 slaves in Orange County at the time of his death in 1801.
How many slaves did President James Madison own?
President James Madison, along with his father and grandfather owned slaves at Montpelier. Madison's mother, Nelly Madison, and grandmother, Frances Madison, also owned slaves at Montpelier. The 1820 Census notes the Madison household as having 15 free white persons, 106 enslaved African Americans (54 of which were men and 52 of which were women), and 0 free African Americans. In the 1830s Census, Montpelier is described as having 2 free white males, 56 enslaved men, and 41 enslaved women.
Additional information also suggests that the number of slaves owned by President James Madison fluctuated. This data is drawn from Orange County personal property tax records, which recorded the number of " hables" or taxable individuals (and items) for which a property owner was responsible. Ill, infirm, aged, juvenile, or injured slaves were not considered productive and were not taxed, nor do they appear in these records. In regard to Madison's personal property taxes, the least number of slaves for whom Madison was taxed was nine, and the most was 66.
Some of the slaves President James Madison owned were sold for financial reasons prior to his death in 1836. Dolley also sold some after his death, and some were included in the sale of Montpelier to Henry Moncure in 1844. Dolley also willed some of the slaves to her relatives.
Where did the slaves work and live at Montpelier?
Under President Madison's father, we know that many enslaved people worked as field laborers, in connection with the family's ironworking business, as skilled carpenters, and as domestics in the main house.
The do entary record had shed very little light on the number and position of outbuildings that surrounded the Montpelier mansion during Madison ownership. As an active plantation, the mansion was at the core of the estate and was flanked by kitchens, slave quarters, smokehouses, barns, and other outbuildings. However, archaeological investigations in the yard between the garden and the mansion have revealed a number of outbuildings that date to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, including a kitchen, a slave quarter, and a possible outbuilding associated with the slave quarter. This portion of the yard was likely the "service" complex for the mansion. Daily activities of the enslaved domestics working and living in this yard would have revolved around preparing the Madison family's meals, laundry, and providing for their own households. An 1837 insurance map further confirms that three residences, each a duplex for two slave families, and two smokehouses once stood in the south yard area.
Slaves who worked in the Madison's household lived in the nearby area known as the "south yard." The yard of these homes, where most of the household activities took place, were in direct sight of the mansion. As a result, the Madisons would have controlled not only the appearance, but also the activities within this space. In Madison's day, all of the buildings in the side yard were shielded from the view of a visitor approaching Montpelier by a row of trees and shrubs. These plantings were placed in this manner to direct attention to the mansion and away from the outbuildings. Within the service yard, a series of stone pathways connected these buildings to each other and the mansion. In addition to the more formal stone pathways, a series of less formal dirt pathways likely connected the services complex to the quarters of the field slaves and wider community beyond the mansion yard.
Archaeological investigations have also found the remains of the Madison plantation farm complex, which served as the hub of the working farm and the home for several generations of field slaves. Included in this area were slave quarters, tobacco barns, an overseer's house, and work yards. Slave quarters for field slaves would have been made of logs, with dirt floors, simple plank shutters to shut out the weather, and chimneys made of sticks and mud. The slaves built the homes themselves, receiving only nails and door hardware from the Madisons. The crude home of the field slaves stand in marked contrast to the much better homes of the house slaves located near the mansion, which included glazed windows, wooden floors, and brick chimneys.
Did President James Madison ever free any of his slaves?
There are no reports that indicate that President James Madison ever freed any of his slaves. However, there are cases in which enslaved African Americans at Montpelier were able to gain their freedom.
Paul Jennings was an enslaved man who served as Madison's body servant in both Washington, D.C., and at Montpelier. The 47-year old Jennings was sold in 1846 by Dolley Madison to cover debts. Daniel Webster subsequently purchased Jennings in 1847, and he made an agreement with Jennings for him to work off his debt at $8 a month until he was fully free. Jennings was a member of the free black population of Washington from 1847 until his death in 1870.
Billey, another enslaved man from Montpelier, also eventually gained his freedom. Billey accompanied President James Madison to the Contintental Congress in 1780. In 1783, Madison wrote to his father to tell him that he was reluctant to bring Billey back to Montpelier. Madison apparently feared that the ideas of equality and freedom that Billey had been exposed to in Philadelphia might lead to dissent among the rest of the slave community at Montpelier. Therefore, Madison sold Billey in Philadelphia, where he was eventually freed after seven years of servitude and took the last name of Gardner.
In general, it appears that Madison did not think slavery was good politically, economically, or morally, and from that perspective he would have liked to have seen it restricted or eliminated. In his view, slavery perpetuated an inefficient system of production that could, ultimately, be detrimental to the future of the nation. Moreover, Madison viewed slavery as "a blot on our republican character." In his personal life, however, Madison continued to own many slaves. He does remind his overseers to treat the slaves with "humanity," but not so much as to make them forget their proper place as slaves. Furthermore, he does request in his will that his slaves not be sold without their consent, contingent upon their good behavior. However, this stipulation later falls second to Dolley's financial needs. In his retirement years as a member and eventually the president of the American Colonization Society, Madison advocated the manumission of slaves, but not so that they could join American society as free citizens. Rather, he preferred that they be freed and relocated away from white society, either in the American west or in Africa. He makes it clear that while he does not endorse slavery in principle or as the base of a system of production, he did not believe blacks could live in harmony with whites, unlike some of his close abolitionist peers and colleagues.
Read more...
http://www.montpelier.org/explore/co...hp#manumission
Thanks for driving my point home.
James Madison
An Eye for Farming
Slavery
Slavery was a Southern tradition and was practiced on the Madison plantation. James Madison’s father owned 118 slaves. Yet, unlike most plantations of the time slaves were treated well by the Madison’s, often being referred to as, “part of the family.” James Madison while growing up played with both black and white children. This is reflected in James Madison’s abhorrence of slavery.
Madison continued his father’s humane treatment of slaves, yet his dependence on them increased. He told one of his overseers, “treat the Negroes with all the humanity and kindness consistent with their necessary subordination and work.”
In his later years Madison believed strongly in the American Colonization Society and gradual abolition of slavery. In his last years he attempted to free his slaves, yet an increasing amount of debt caused him to sell some of them.
http://www.jamesmadisonmus.org/hoa/madison.htm
Did you read the whole thing, or are U just a cherry-picker?
So he never freed any slaves because of money?
A real man of principle, that one.
I was the first person who linked that website in this thread.
James Madison never freed any of his slaves.
You can try to make excuses for it, but you can never change that fact.
What was James Madison's view on slavery?
In: Founding Fathers [Edit categories]
Answer
James Madison was strongly opposed to slavery, and believed that it was bad for both the slave and the slave-holder. However, even though he had this view, Madison kept his slaves for his whole life.
Answer
Another of my wishes is to depend as little as possible on the labour of slaves.
-- James Madison, Letter to R. H. Lee, July 17, 1785 (Madison, 1865, I, page 161)
[W]e must deny the fact, that slaves are considered merely as property, and in no respect whatever as persons. The true state of the case is, that they partake of both these qualities: being considered by our laws, in some respects, as persons, and in other respects as property. In being compelled to labor, not for himself, but for a master; in being vendible by one master to another master; and in being subject at all times to be restrained in his liberty and chastised in his body, by the capricious will of another, the slave may appear to be degraded from the human rank, and classed with those irrational animals which fall under the legal denomination of property. In being protected, on the other hand, in his life and in his limbs, against the violence of all others, even the master of his labor and his liberty; and in being punishable himself for all violence committed against others, the slave is no less evidently regarded by the law as a member of the society, not as a part of the irrational creation; as a moral person, not as a mere article of property.
-- James Madison, Federalist, no. 54
American citizens are instrumental in carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in violation of the laws of humanity and in defiance of those of their own country. The same just and benevolent motives which produced interdiction in force against this criminal conduct will doubtless be felt by Congress in devising further means of suppressing the evil.
-- James Madison, State of the Union,1810
It is due to justice; due to humanity; due to truth; due to the sympathies of our nature; in fine, to our character as a people, both abroad and at home, that they should be considered, as much as possible, in the light of human beings, and not as mere property.
As such, they are acted on by our laws, and have an interest in our laws. They may be considered as making a part, though a degraded part, of the families to which they belong.
-- James Madison, Speech in the Virginia State Convention of 1829-30, on the Question of the Ratio of Representation in the two Branches of the Legislature, December 2, 1829.
Outlets for the freed blacks are alone wanted for the erasure of the blot from our Republican character.
-- James Madison, Letter to General La Fayette, February 1, 1830.
[I]f slavery, as a national evil, is to be abolished, and it be just that it be done at the national expense, the amount of the expense is not a paramount consideration.
-- James Madison, Letter to Robert J. Evans
In contemplating the pecuniary resources needed for the removal of such a number to so great a distance [freed slaves to Africa], my thoughts and hopes have long been turned to the rich fund presented in the western lands of the nation . . ."
-- James Madison, Letter to R. R. Gurley, December 28, 1831.
"[The Convention] thought it wrong to admit in the Cons ution the idea that there could be property in men."
We have seen the mere distinction of color made in the most enlightened period of time, a ground of the most oppressive dominion ever exercised by man over man."
-- James Madison, speech at the Cons utional Convention, June 6, 1787
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_J...iew_on_slavery
James Madison never freed any of his slaves.
He never bought any slaves either, so we are even.
He didn't need to.
He had 100 of them.
And never freed one of them.
Descendants of Madison's slave to tour White House
By Kristin E. Holmes
Inquirer Staff Writer
Five generations separate Elsie Styles-Harrison of Malvern and the ancestor who served as a slave in the White House.
In the years between them, Paul Jennings, the property of President James Madison, became the subject of a passing reference. He had something to do with an attempted slave escape, an aunt mentioned to Styles-Harrison decades ago.
It wasn't until she got her first computer that Styles-Harrison discovered the historic importance of her great-great-great-grandfather.
Jennings, she learned, is credited with writing the first do ented memoir of an insider living in the White House. And he was likely among those who saved the portrait of George Washington during the War of 1812.
Today, Styles-Harrison and dozens of Jennings descendants will tour the White House, where they will view the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington.
"We are living in a day when we have a black president in the White House," said Styles-Harrison, 79, a retired administrative assistant and former Philadelphia police officer. "And it's the result of all the unsung work of the heroes who came before him."
Nearly two centuries ago, Styles-Harrison's ancestor walked into the White House as a 10-year-old slave. Born in 1799 at Montpelier, the Madison family plantation, Jennings was the son of an English trader and a slave woman who was part American Indian. Jennings was a footman, serving dinner, aiding the coachman, and acting as a messenger, said Beth Taylor, director of education at Montpelier, who is writing a book about Jennings.
"When you came onto [Montpelier] during Madison's time, you would see five white faces and about 100 black faces," Taylor said. "We know a lot about the white people who lived here but very little about the black people. We want to tell the authentic history."
Taylor organized today's White House tour. President Obama and his family are away on vacation.
Efforts such as Taylor's book and the President's House project on Independence Mall are part of a growing movement to include the lives of slaves in "the public narrative," said historian Michael R. Winston, emeritus vice president for academic affairs at Howard University. This would add to earlier works pioneered by black scholars, said Winston, who has written about Jennings for the White House Historical Association.
"We are in some ways reaching a point where the difficult parts of our history are being approached," he said, "and that's a good thing."
Lisa Collins, Styles-Harrison's daughter, called it a sign that people - black and white - are now able to get beyond the shame of having slavery in their family tree.
In 1865, Jennings' account of his life as a slave was published. A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison gave a glimpse into the White House.
Jennings warmly discussed his masters. He recounted being with Madison when the former president was dying. He wrote of giving Dolley Madison a few "sums from my own pocket" when she was poverty-stricken after her husband's death. By then, Jennings had purchased his freedom with the help of Daniel Webster.
The memoir also recounted the scurry of activity in the White House as the British approached Washington after winning the Battle of Bladensburg. They captured the city and set many public buildings on fire, including the White House. But before they arrived, Jennings was among those who helped spirit away the portrait of Washington, which still hangs in the White House, Taylor said.
Dolley Madison is given most of the credit, although Jennings wrote that she hadn't taken down the portrait. He credited other servants for taking it down, but historians say Dolley Madison instructed her servants to do it.
Once a free man, Jennings built a life for himself and his wife, Fanny. They had five children.
In 1848, Jennings secretly helped organize an attempted escape of more than 70 slaves from Washington on a boat called the Pearl. An informant foiled the plan. The slaves were returned to their masters, and many were sold away.
"I feel like he was fighting back then, and I'm living in the times he fought for," said William McNally, 22, Styles-Harrison's grandson. "I'm so proud of it."
Jennings went on to work in a job with the federal government, and purchased two homes in Washington. He died in 1874.
Members of the Jennings family met for a reunion this year at Montpelier. Styles-Harrison walked into a cellar where plantation artifacts were displayed. There, she saw pieces of a yellow mixing bowl identical to one that had been handed down to her.
"I almost fell out on the floor," Styles-Harrison said.
Today she, along with Collins, will walk the halls of the White House with her family to view the portrait that her ancestor helped preserve.
The date is significant. The life-size depiction of Washington was saved from the British on Aug. 24, 1814.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_...ite_House.html
I noticed that Obama, who comes from a slave-holding family, left town before this event. I guess he didn't want to be seen with the Madison kin.
Ironically, James Madison and Barack Obama are distant cousins.
James Madison:
"But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.
In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions."
The Federalist No. 51
The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments
Independent Journal
Wednesday, February 6, 1788
[James Madison]
To the People of the State of New York:
http://www.cons ution.org/fed/federa51.htm
Last edited by Galileo; 10-20-2009 at 03:23 PM.
He tried to. They had a law that said all freed blacks had to leave the state. But when Virginia passed that, then all the border states passed the same laws.
Madison served in the Viginia legislature three times; 1776-1777, 1784-1786, and 1798-1800.
Interesting, but this anti-slave law was passed in around 1806, not long after Madison went to Washington DC to become Secretary of State.
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