James Madison

The conclusion of his second term marked the end of Madison’s long years of service in the federal government. In the years that remained to him, Madison emerged from the privacy of family life in Montpelier on only a few occasions. At the age of 78 he participated in the Virginia convention to write a new state constitution. He also consistently supported Jefferson’s work in founding the University of Virginia. A member of its board until Jefferson’s death in 1826, Madison succeeded his friend as the university’s rector. When South Carolina objected to a new tariff and threatened to nullify it within its borders, Madison spoke out vigorously, denying that the Constitution allowed any state to exclude itself from laws passed by the U.S. Congress. Although the proponents of nullification based their doctrine on the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, Madison particularly disavowed any applicability of his own arguments in the Virginia Resolutions to the present situation.

Madison’s final years were troubled with chronic illness, but the quickness of his mind was unimpaired. His interest and concern for the nation he had helped to found continued undiminished. The deaths of Jefferson and Monroe, the longtime friends and associates of both his private and public life, saddened his old age. During his last years, Madison was confined to his home, where he died on June 28, 1836.