James Madison (1751-1836) was a member of the Virginia legislature in 1776-80 and 1784-86, of the Continental Congress in 1780-83, and of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, where he earned the title “father of the U. S. Constitution.” He was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from 1789 to 1797, where he was a sponsor of the Bill of Rights and an opponent of Hamilton’s financial measures. He was the author of the Virginia Resolutions of 1798 in opposition to the U. S. alien and sedition laws. He was U. S. secretary of state in 1801-09, President of the U. S. in 1809-17, and rector of the University of Virginia, 1826-36.
