James Madison

Article Outline

Introduction; Early Life; Early Career; President of the United States; Second Term as President; Last Years

Secretary of State

When Jefferson became president in 1801, he appointed Madison to the highest post in his Cabinet. From 1801 to 1809, Madison served as both secretary of state and chief adviser to his old friend.

The extent to which Madison personally formulated American foreign policy is not clear. Jefferson generated many ideas, and began some actions himself. For example, Jefferson, working with ambassadors reporting directly to him, managed the Louisiana Purchase, which finally assured the United States access to the Mississippi. Yet Madison was more than secretary of state to the president. The two men exchanged views on all subjects and were always in essential agreement.

When Madison took over the Department of State, its staff numbered fewer than a dozen, and his administrative duties were not extensive. However, the international problems confronting him were formidable. They concerned primarily America’s relations with the warring nations of Europe.

Since the beginning of hostilities between France and Great Britain, American shippers had been transporting much of the seaborne trade of those countries, particularly between Europe and the French and British islands of the West Indies. However, Britain and France had declared a blockade against each other’s ports. American ships headed to or from those ports were often stopped by the British or French navy and their cargoes confiscated. Further, sailors on American vessels were frequently removed and forcibly inducted, or impressed, into service with the British navy (see Impressment and Search).

President of the United States

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Election of 1808

It was no surprise that Madison’s party named him to succeed Jefferson. A dissident faction called the Quids opposed him and nominated James Monroe. But Madison kept the support of all but a small group of the Republicans and easily defeated the Federalist candidate, diplomat Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina. He received 122 electoral votes to Pinckney’s 47. George Clinton, vice president under Jefferson, had 6 votes. Clinton also became Madison’s vice president.

Madison was sworn into office by Chief Justice John Marshall on March 4, 1809. A great inaugural ball, the first of its kind, celebrated his assumption of the presidency. Though elated by his triumph and the honor accorded him, Madison felt greatly the responsibility that had fallen on him.

An observer wrote that Madison was “extremely pale and trembled excessively” as he began his inaugural address, “but soon gained confidence and spoke audibly.” His remarks reflected the “peculiar solemnity” of the “existing period.” He stressed that “the present situation of the world is indeed without a parallel and that of our own country full of difficulties.” Madison’s address emphasized his ardent desire for peace, but made it clear that he would not tolerate continued foreign interference. Its tone foreshadowed the course he would follow in dealing with such interference.

Relations With Britain and France

The eight years of Madison’s presidency were dominated by continuing and growing tensions between the United States and the governments of France and Britain, and finally by open warfare with Britain. When Madison took office, the Embargo Act of 1807 had been replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act, which reopened trade with countries other than France and Britain. By 1810 it was apparent to Madison that the American trade boycott was having no effect. American ships were being seized at a greater rate, if anything, by both countries. In May 1810, therefore, the Non-Intercourse Act was repealed, and the United States resumed trade with both France and Britain. But if one of them dropped its restrictions on American shipping, Madison was authorized to again prohibit trade with the other.

Worsening of Relations

U.S.-British relations deteriorated further when the president received what he was led to regard as complete assurance that France was renouncing its policy of intercepting American ships. Unaware that he was being tricked by France, Madison declared in November 1810 that trade with Britain was to be halted. Although negotiations with British ambassadors continued in hope of a peaceable settlement, they were now almost certainly doomed to fail.

By April 1811 Madison had sufficiently mended his relations with Monroe, his rival in the 1808 election, to obtain Monroe’s services as secretary of state. He placed Monroe in charge of negotiations with Britain. A number of issues were discussed, but to Madison the crucial one was that Britain drop its restrictions on American shipping. The talks proceeded with some success over the next year. But in his third annual message, in November 1811, Madison asked Congress to put the United States “into an armour and an attitude demanded by the crisis.”

War had now become likely with Britain. This was due, however, as much to the American ambition to expand U.S. territory into British-held lands in the West, into Canada, and into Spanish Florida as to the controversy over shipping rights. Madison’s annexation of a part of Florida is believed to have strengthened these ambitions. The most prominent members of the expansionist movement were Henry Clay, then a congressman from Kentucky, and John C. Calhoun, a congressman from South Carolina. They were the leaders of the war hawks, as the militant expansionist and anti-British forces in Congress were called. They accused Britain of provoking Native American attacks on American frontier communities. In November 1811 American troops under Indiana Governor William Henry Harrison fought the Shawnee nation at the Battle of Tippecanoe near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers. Although Madison had not personally authorized the use of troops, he used the occasion to rally support in Congress for military preparations. War with Britain then became all but certain.

In March 1812 some American ships bound for Lisbon, Portugal, were destroyed by French frigates. But Madison’s action against British trade interference had gathered too much momentum. “Let it not be said,” Madison reasoned, “that the misconduct of France neutralizes in the least that of Britain.” He made it clear that nothing but revocation of Britain’s restrictions on trade could now alter his policy. On March 31 he was quoted as saying “that without an accommodation with Britain Congress ought to declare war before adjourning.”

Early in April, Madison learned that no concession toward settlement was forthcoming from Britain. He promptly asked Congress to place an embargo against Britain and implied that if American grievances were not satisfied during the embargo period, stronger measures would be employed.

Declaration of War

Madison’s demand was interpreted as a prelude to war. The embargo was passed promptly by Congress, and it expired on June 1. On that date, no satisfactory solution having been offered, Madison addressed his war message to Congress. He told Congress that “our commerce has been plundered in every sea,” that Britain was intent on destroying American commerce “not as supplying the wants of her enemies, which she herself supplies; but as interfering with the monopoly which she covets for her own commerce and navigation.” Madison also made an allusion to British participation in recent Native American uprisings and to other “injuries and indignities ... heaped on our country.” He also condemned the hostile acts of France, but recommended that action on these be postponed for the moment. Madison concluded: “We behold ... on the side of Britain a state of war against the United States, and on the side of the United States a state of peace toward Britain.” He asked Congress to decide whether the United States should remain at peace under these circumstances as “a solemn question which the Constitution wisely confides to the legislative department of the government.” On June 18 Madison signed a declaration of war passed by both houses of Congress.