President James Madison

James Madison  (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836) was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817.  He is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  In the late 1780s, he helped organize the Constitutional Convention, which produced a new constitution to supplant the ineffective Articles of Confederation.  His collaboration with Alexander Hamilton produced The Federalist Papers, among the most important treatises in support of the Constitution.  For his role in drafting the first ten amendments to the Constitution during the 1st Congress, Madison is known as the “Father of the Bill of Rights”.  After Thomas Jefferson won the 1800 presidential election, Madison served as Jefferson’s Secretary of State from 1801 to 1809.  In this role, Madison supervised the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the nation’s size.  Madison succeeded Jefferson with a victory in the 1808 presidential election, and he won re-election in 1812.  (More from Wikipedia)