What Are James Madison's Major Accomplishments

“James Madison”

James Madison “saw strengthening the Union as the key to preserving American liberty” (Madison, James, 225). His vision showed his determination and will to make his country great and successful. He showed these qualities from early childhood to long after his presidency. Most of Madison’s accomplishments and heights of his career were before he was elected. James Madison started off successful in his early years and went on to father the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He also went on to become the fourth president of the United States. James Madison left a huge legacy on America that lives on today. James Madison grew up on a family plantation and had a very successful early life. James Madison took his first breath

James Madison was elected into Virginia’s legislature at age twenty-six and joined the Continental Congress in 1780. Madison saw strengthening the Union and the key to preserving American Liberty and worked at this during this time with help of the Articles of Confederation. Madison is known for being the Father of the Constitution and was “responsible for the convening of the Constitutional Convention in 1787” (James Madison, 55). With Madison being responsible for the convening we can understand why he is known for fathering the Constitution. James Madison was also known as the Father of the Bill of Rights and planned to create a minority protected political system (Madison, James, 225). We can infer with this evidence that this is why many people were in favor for James Madison, even before he was elected president. Madison also strongly agreed that the best way to strengthen the government was to amend the constitution. James Madison continued to serve his state and country, when he was elected into the U.S. House of Representatives and served eight years. While attending the Annapolis Convention, Madison recorded speeches and wrote down votes of the

James Madison formed our country today and most of his work on forming America was behind the scenes. “Although James Madison is by no means a forgotten man among America’s founding generation, he is often underappreciated” (Faber,291). Faber is stating that we all know James Madison as a founding founder but most of his accomplishments are overlooked. Many other influential figures are known more for their legacy than James Madison. One of these people is George Washington, who Madison worked under when Jefferson was president. James Madison was a confidential advisor under Washington (Madison, James, 227). Since George Washington was the first president and Madison served under him, Washington’s legacy is more vivid to us than Madison’s. Madison did many things that made his legacy even bigger, that many people don’t know about. One thing many people don’t know is that Madison founded the University of Virginia with Thomas Jefferson (Madison, James, 228). This along with many other accomplishments are reasons why James Madison’s legacy is usually under estimated, and it’s only because people don’t know these