James Madison's Accomplishments

James Madison is one of the most under appreciated U.S. presidents and founding father is history, in spite of his great accomplishments. These accomplishments aided America in its formation, through its search for independence, even through its struggle to become a legitimate nation. James Madison aided America both as a founding father and as a president.

To begin, James Madison aided America as a founding father, with the Virginia Plan and his help in ratifying the Constitution. Before explain what Madison did as a founding father of a new nation it is important to understand what exactly the role of a founding father is. A founding is someone who lays the groundwork on how a nation should be run for example through documents such as the

In 1811 Madison decided that America was no longer going to take Britain's impressment of their soldiers and inciting of the Native Americans. He decided to write congress a list of reasons why he felt that America should declare war against Britain this was later called Madison’s War Message to Congress. America was the obvious underdog in this war, since British troops and ships greatly outnumbered their own. In fact, “At the start of the war the United States had only 16 warships more or less ready for sea….American government issued more than 500 letters of marque to captains eager to wield a sword”(Dudley) These captains who took up the government’s offer can also be called privateers. Madison’s use of privateers shows how he was able to recognize that America needed a larger naval force. By giving these civilians the right to capture enemy vessels he was able to add 500 plus ships to their navy. Demonstrating how Madison used the resources that were readily available to him such as willing captains ready to fight for the cause.Furthermore, James Madison was able to promote Nationalism or a sense of pride in the country throughout America. The war of 1812 was often called , “America’s second revolution [and]…..a nationalist fervor swept across the country.”(Elish 81). At this point in time America was just a new nation that was not doing all that well, with the impressment of their navy, Native American attacks in the west, and the British restriction of trade. But it was not a sure victory for the Americans, American soldiers were not as well trained as the British soldiers, they had less money,and America had a smaller navy. But regardless of this the Americans managed to obtain victory. This was a major confidence boost for the America. It showed Americans and European nations that America was not to be messed