Hannah+-+JMadison

4th President of the United States James Madison Born: 16th March 1751 Died: 28th June 1836 Democratic-Republican Served as President from 1809-1817 Vice Presidents: George Clinton (1809-1812) and Elbridge Gerry (1813-1814) From the years of 1812-1813 and 1814-1817 there were no Vice Presidents, for both died during their time in office.

James Madison "a small, wizened man", made decisions both splendid and utterly perplexing. He charters the second Bank of the U.S. in 1816, but in 1812, he did something most unusual; he declared war on Britain. For this, the grade he deserves is an overall B. He had the right morals but it seems he had not thought everything through thoroughly.

It is obvious that Madison still felt a disliking towards the British even before 1812, because, in 1810, he passed Macon's Bill Number 2. This Bill was passed as a law to try and "motivate Great Britain and France to stop seizing American vessels during the Napoleonic Wars." The law stopped all trading with Britain and France, and would only lift if one of the two countries would agree to stop seizing American ships. If Madison could get one of the countries (Britain or France) to agree to stop the raiding then they would trade only with them. Therefore, Madison was urging the French to do something about it. A Frenchman named Napoleon was the first to see that he could potentially cripple the British economy by just saying he would agree to stop the raids against the "neutral american vessels". He did in fact do just that. But he went against his word and had no intention of stopping the attacks on American ships. This was not unseen by James Madison, however, who then ignored the promise, as he saw it for what it really was.

Madisons' eye for such betrayals was a good feature in a President in those days, because it was easy for lies to be carried on parchment. Another man, by the name of Governor Harrison also had this sharp eye, but for attacks not lies. The Battle of Tippecanoe sparked much outrage and ended up as a cause for the War of 1812. For a long time the Americans had suspected certain alliances with the British and Indians, and were proved right when one day the Indians attacked 1,000 American men (all dressed for battle thanks to Governor Harrison) on the side of Lake Tippecanoe. The casualties were huge. The Indians had just proven to the Americans that they were being armed with rifles by the British, something tat worried them greatly, for Indians were attacking towns all over the country with unusual killing power. This was one of the main causes for the War of 1812. Other causes are that of land ownership, repressments and simple bragging rights.

It is easy to see that Madison's main goals were simply for the benefit of the nation as a whole. The War of 1812 was a battle for maritime rights and safety to citizens, in his eyes. And that's exactly what he did with Macon's Bill, he just smoothed the rough edges and curved the harsh lines. He agreed to end the War against the British with the Ghent Treaty, for it was the only civilised thing to do and he knew that. So, that is why Mr. Madison has an average score as a President, because his decisions were good, just in a bad light.

Madisons relationship with Congress must have been swell, for the majority of his voters were in the South and he won the election by quite a margin. The constitution for one must have been clearly on his side with matters for it suggests that the most representatives were Democratic-Republicans just like him.

The War of 1812 was a left a definate sour taste in a lot of peoples' mouths and was probably the worst decision by the administration at the time. The only reason why it did happen was because there were so many representatives on Madisons side that it would have been all but too easy to vote for the war. The country did not gain from this war but rather lost; lost lives, lost towns and lost the White House. Their objective was to take over Canada and show the British the new found strength in the United States but this didn't happen. As soon as the U.S. looked as though it might attack, Canada was on full alert and ready to defend. And that they did. The tables turned sharply from an attack, to having to defend their own soil against the counter-striking Canadian and British forces. So this suggests that the War was not such a good idea on Madison's part. On the other hand, Madison did sign the treaty to end the war. So his ideas of taking over Canada were diminished but he still had the honour and respect for his country and men, that he did the valiant thing and stopped the war before it got out of hand.

This decision to attack Canada has probably taught the succeeding Presidents a lesson in military command and diplomacy. For Madison showed his thought in getting revenge on Britain but didn't go the right way about it. It has been proven that if he had concentrated all his force on the capital of Canada, instead of wasting his energy and man power on three smaller towns, he would have been able to capture Canada and their repressment problems would have been solved. But Madison didn't have that kind of military mind, and so, that fact went unnoticed. This does not mean, however, that he was not brilliant, on the contrary, he was a very wise man but it seems he didn't have certain qualities which are a necessity in present Presidents. These successors would have learnt a great deal from Madison's mistakes and, also, his brilliance.

Madison showed how to smooth out rough edges when it came to harsh laws, how to stop a war before it got out of hand and how to bring life back into a depressed country. He did make mistakes, but because of lack of information and analysis on his administrations' part and his quick, however inaccurate, conclusions. The country was definately better off with him as President, for they could have lost a lot more to the British-Canadians than they had in 1812 under another President. He was very quick to act, too quick in fact. He ran straight into battle headlong and as soon as the opposition advanced, he retreated. It is fair to say James Madison hadn't been brought up to think executively but he still gets and overall grade of B; for having a brilliant mind, but not brilliant strength.

"Battle of Tippecanoe." __Re-living History Battles: the war of 1812__. 1998. ThinkQuest. 25 Sept. 2008 .
 * __Bibliography__**

"James Madison." __The White House__. 25 Sept. 2008 .

Kennedy, David M., Thomas A. Bailey, and Lizabeth Cohen. __American Pageant : Advanced Placement__. Boston: Houghton Mifflin College Division, 2001.

"Macon's Bill Number 2." __Spiritus-Temporis__. 2005. 25 Sept. 2008 .