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description=Striving for accuracy in history, economics, geography, education, politics and a little science;

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princeton for another year to study theology directly under witherspoon with an eye toward becoming a preacher witherspoon is often held up as an example of how religion influenced the founders but he was much more of a rationalist than some would have us believe he persuaded the young madison that a career in law and politics would be a great service to the people of virginia and america and might be a higher calling after a year of this reflection madison returned to virginia and won election to local government in his role as a county official madison traveled the area he inspected the works of government including the jails he was surprised to find in jail in virginia people accused of gasp practicing adult baptism in fact baptists and presbyterians were jailed on occasion because the anglican church was the state church of virginia and their practicing their faith was against the common law this troubled madison greatly and it directed an important part of his work for the rest of his life in january of 1774 madison wrote about it to another prominent virginian william bradford poverty and luxury prevail among all sorts pride ignorance and knavery among the priesthood and vice and wickedness among the laity this is bad enough but it is not the worst i have to tell you that diabolical hell conceived principle of persecution rages among some and to their eternal infamy the clergy can furnish their quota of imps for such business this vexes me the most of any thing whatever there are at this time in the adjacent county not less than 5 or 6 well meaning men in close gaol for publishing their religious sentiments which in the main are very orthodox i have neither patience to hear talk or think of any thing relative to this matter for i have squabbled and scolded abused and ridiculed so long about it to so little purpose that i am without common patience so i leave you to pity me and pray for liberty of conscience to revive among us by april madison s views on the matter had been boiled down to the essences and he wrote bradford again more bluntly religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise madison must have done a fine job at his county duties whatever they were because in 1776 when virginia was organizing its government to survive hostilities with england madison was elected to the legislative body madison was 25 and still raw in virginia politics he was appointed to the committee headed by george mason to review the laws and charter of the colony another who would serve on this committee when he was back from philadelphia was thomas jefferson george mason was already a giant in virginia politics and by the time madison got to williamsburg mason had already completed much of the work on a bill of rights to undergird the new virginia government madison noted that freedom of religion was not among the rights enumerated in mason s version but it was too late mason said the work was done madison quietly went to work on mason in committee over dinner during social occasions noting the great injustice of jailing people solely because of their beliefs and urging to mason that it did virginia no good to keep these fathers from providing for their families mason ultimately agreed to accept the amendment the pattern was set perhaps a better example of this reflection and action cycle occurred nearly a decade later by 1785 the war was over independence was won but the business of government continued while serving as governor of virginia thomas jefferson had drafted about 150 proposals for laws really a blueprint for a free government about half of these proposals had been passed into law by 1785 jefferson was away from virginia representing the confederation of colonies in paris jefferson had provided several laws to disestablish religion in virginia and to separate out the functions of church and state with jefferson gone however his old nemesis patrick henry sought to roll back some of that work henry proposed to bring back state support for the clergy for the stated purpose of promoting education yes this is the same battle we fight today for church and state separation after jefferson s troubled term as governor virginia turned again to henry henry ultimately served six terms as governor his proposal was set for a quick approval in the virginia assembly it was late in the term and everyone wanted to get home henry was of course a thundering orator of great note madison was a small man with a nervous speaking style but a man who knew the issues better than anyone else in almost any room he could be in madison came up with an interesting proposal picking the religion for the state was serious stuff he said a state doesn t want to pick the wrong religion and get stuck with the wrong god surely and such weighty matters deserve widespread support and discussion madison said his motion to delay henry s bill until the next session in order to let the public know and approve was agreed to handily you probably know the rest of this story with a year for the state to reflect on the idea madison wrote up a petition on the issue which he called a memorial and remonstrance in the petition he laid out 15 reasons why separation of church and state was a superior form of government concluding that in the previous 1 500 years every marriage of church and state produced a lazy and corrupt church and despotic government madison s petition circulated everywhere and away from patrick henry s thundering orations the people of virginia chose madison s cool reason when the legislature reconvened in 1786 it rejected henry s proposal but madison s petition had been so persuasive the legislature also brought up a proposal thomas jefferson had made six years earlier and passed into law the virginia statue for religious freedom this was a great victory for madison and for virginia he celebrated by convening a convention to settle disputes between virginia and maryland about navigation on the chesapeake bay having reflected on the nature of this issue a dispute between colonies madison had sought advice from others having the same problems such as new york and new jersey in that effort he got the support of a new yorker working on the same problems alexander hamilton in the course of these discussions madison thought it clear that the difficulty lay with the form of government that bound the colonies together under the articles of confederation hamilton agreed and they got their respective states and conferences to agree to meet in philadelphia in 1787 to try to fix those problems since i first wrote this i ve learned that it was george washington s desire to get a federal government to facilitate the settling of the ohio river valley where washington had several thousands of acres to sell that prompted him to push madison into the annapolis convention and who made the introduction between madison and washington s old aide and friend alexander hamilton madison s work with washington runs much deeper than i orignally saw amending the articles of confederation was a doomed effort many thought the colonies would go their separate ways no longer bound by the need to hang together against the parliament of england perhaps george washington could have got a council together to propose a new system but washington had stayed out of these debates washington s model for action was the roman general cincinnatus who went from his plow to lead the romans to victory then returned to his farm and finding his plow where he had left it took it up again madison invited washington and persuaded washington to attend washington was elected president of the convention and in retrospect that election guaranteed that whatever the convention produced the colonies would pay attention to it you know that history too the convention quickly decided the articles of confederation were beyond repair instead they wrote a new charter for a new form of government the charter was based in part on jefferson s virginia plan with lots of modifications because the constitution resembles so much the blueprint that jefferson had written and because jefferson was a great founder many americans believe jefferson was a guiding light at that philadelphia convention it s often good to reflect that jefferson was in paris the entire time while america remembers the thunder of washington s presiding franklin s timely contributions and jefferson s ideas it was madison who did the heavy lifting who got washington and franklin to attend the meeting madison had set up and got jefferson s ideas presented and explained it was madison who decided in late august of 1787 that the convention could not hang together long enough to create a bill of rights and instead got approval for the basic framework of the u s government in virginia a few months later while patrick henry thundered against what he described as a power grab by a new government it was madison who assembled the coalitions that got the constitution ratified by the virginia ratifying convention and when even jefferson complained that a constitution was dangerous without a bill of rights it was madison who first calmed jefferson then promised that one of the first actions of the new government would be a bill of rights he delivered on that promise as a member of the house of representatives in 1789 it is difficult to appreciate just how deeply insinuated into the creation of america was james madison in big ways and small he made america work he took the lofty ideas of jefferson and made them into laws that are still on the books unamended and unedited more than 200 years later when the ratification battle was won when madison had won election to the house over patrick henry s strong objection partly by befriending the man henry had picked to defeat madison james monroe madison could have savored the moment and been assured a place in history james madison in 1804 by gilbert stuart colonial williamsburg foundation williamsburg virginia gift of mrs george s robbins that s not what a lightning bolt does journeying to new york for the opening of the first congress and the inauguration of washington as president madison stopped off at mount vernon to visit with washington apparently at washington s request in what was a few hours really madison wrote washington s inaugural address while there at mount vernon madison stumbled into a discussion by several others on their way to new york wondering what high honorific to apply to the new president excellency was winning out over your highness until washington turned to madison for an opinion madison said the president should be called simply mr president we still do once in new york madison saw to the organizing of the congress then to the organizing of the inauguration and upon hearing washington s inauguration address which madison had ghosted remember congress appointed madison to write the official congressional response years later in washington madison engineered the candidacy of thomas jefferson for president and after jefferson was elected madison had the dubious honor as secretary of state of lending his name to the supreme court case that established the supreme court as the arbiter of what is constitutional under our scheme of government in marbury v madison wherever there was action needed to make this government work it seemed there was james madison providing the spark james madison was the lightning behind the thunder of the founding of america we should be grateful that he lived when he did where he did for we all share the fruits of the freedoms he worked to obtain and in this thanksgiving season let us look for appropriate ways to honor his work james madison 1829 portrait by chester harding montpelier house billy hathorn in 1829 madison came out of retirement to attend a convention for revising virginia s constitution while there he posed for this portrait by the massachusetts painter chester harding the madisonian model of thoughtful reflection leading to action is one that is solidly established in psychological research it is the model for leadership taught in business schools and military academies i would compare religious liberty to a mighty oak tree under which we might seek shade on a hot summer day from which we might draw wood for our fires to warm us in winter or lumber to build great and strong buildings that big oak we enjoy began its life long before ours we enjoy its shade because someone earlier planted the seed we enjoy our freedoms today because of men like james madison how do we give thanks as we pass around the turkey to our family our friends we would do well to reflect on the freedoms we enjoy and how we got them finally remembering that someone had to plant those seeds we need to ask what seeds must we plant now for those who will come after us we can demonstrate our being grateful for the actions of those who came before us by giving to those who come after us something more to be grateful for a life like madison s is a rarity improving on the freedoms he gave us might be difficult preserving those freedoms seems to me a solemn duty however speaking out to defend those freedoms is an almost tangible way to thank james madison and as fate would have it there is plenty of material to speak out about a postcard to your senators and representative giving your reasoned views on the re introduction of the istook amendment might be timely now with america s attention turned overseas for a moment people have adopted patrick henry s tactic of trying to undo religious freedom during the distraction i have had a lot of fun and done some good i hope in our local school system by asking our sons science and biology teachers what they plan to teach about evolution whatever they nervously answer and they always nervously answer that question i tell them that i want them to cover the topic fully and completely and if they have any opposition to that i would be pleased to lend my name to a suit demanding it be done we might take a moment of reflection to ponder our views about a proposed texas moment of silence bill to be introduced and then let our state representatives have our thoughts on the issue do you need inspiration turn to james madison s writings in laying out his 15 point defense of religious freedom in 1785 madison wrote that separation of church and state is essential to our form of government the preservation of a free government requires not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably maintained but more especially that neither of them be suffered to overleap the great barrier which defends the rights of the people how can we express our gratitude for such a foundation for religious liberty let loose a few lightning bolts in remembrance of madison copyright 2001 and 2006 by ed darrell you may reproduce with attribution links added in may 2013 edited in 2025 more pape...