Matt+-+JMad+-+SP09

James Madison Born: March 16, 1751 Died: June 28, 1836 Party: Democratic-Republican In Office: March 4, 1809-March 4, 1817 Vice Presidents: George Clinton 1809-1812, Elbridge Gerry 1813-1814. Other years no VP. Sorry the paragraphs are a little out of order. I didn't know how to fix them lol. 1. James Madison, our fourth president, was one of our greater presidents in American history, but he wasn't the greatest. Even though he did win the war of 1812 as president, he did also make a couple of mistakes like not approving the Internal Improvements act. But overall, I give James Madison a B- grade because he was good but not great, he had a couple of important successes, and because he didn't do anything that stood out or made him one of the best.

2. One of the goals set forth in James Madison's presidency was the creation of a new National Bank. At first he opposed the idea and vetoed the new charter but a year later in the War of 1812, he asked Congress for a new bank and then signed it into law in 1816. Another goal made by James Madison was the Non-Intercourse Act and Macon's Bill no.2. The Non-Intercourse bill, which started at the end of the Jefferson presidency, stated that America could have international trade with any other country except those of Britian and France because of the recent American merchant ship abuse. It also stated that if England or France ever decided to make peace with American then they were welcome to do so. Because this had no affect, Madison repealed the Non-Intercourse Act with Macon's Bill no.2 which had the same ideas as the Non-Intercourse Act except this time Napoleon agreed to these terms so Madison's goal was accomplished.

5. Overall, James Madison didn't have a lot of affect on future presidents. One act that did have a minor affect on future presidents was the Internal Improvement bill that he vetoed because he felt that congress didn't have the power to do something of that manner. This affected future presidents cause it was an example of the checks and balances system being put to work which was a reminder that one branch could not have too much power. But, in general, James Madison didn't have a lot of affect on future presidents because he was a very straight forward president in the sense that he followed all the rules and in the sense that he didn't do anything very extraordinary or different than that of past and future presidents to come.

4. The action that had the most positive outcome during Madison's presidency was the decloration of the War of 1812 for a few reasons. First, many American merchant ships were still being harrased by the British and because the Non-Intercourse Act and Macon's Bill were not working against the British, the only way to get the British to stop was to go into a state of war with them. Another reason the decloration of the War of 1812 was very important was because Indian attacks that were pushed on by the British were beginning to be a hassle for Americans going to the west and the only way to get them to fall back was to take down the British and the Indians in the War of 1812. The only problem with this action was that it should have happened sooner because of the arising British harrasment. The action set forth by James Madison that had the worst affect on America was the internal improvement legislations that were vetoed by Madison. In this action, Madison vetoed a bill that gave federal funds to companies that would build a road system and canal system for America. This was a poor choice because Madison believed that these things were necessary the nation but still vetoed them anyway which turned a lot of his former supporters against him. Even though he believed passing this bill would have given too much power to Congress, it was still a dumb choice because a road and canal system was needed for fast-growing America.

3. Even though Congress was extremely divided during James Madison's presidency, their relationship with Madison was very good for a number of reasons. First, James Madison made a few bills and declared war on Britain and for the most part, Congress agreed with James on all of these suggestions except the Internal Improvement mistakes that Madison made during his last weeks as president. Another reason their relationship was good was because they almost always on the same page and as stated earlier congress passed many bills presented by Madison. The only time the relationship between Madison and his congress was bad was when James declared war on Britain because the War Hawks pushed him towards war because the War Hawks wanted to conquer Canada. This didn't fly well with congress but in the end, congress still approved the declaration of war with a majority vote. All-in-all, the relationship between congress and Madison was fairly decent considering congress was divided and very unorganized.

6. Overall, James Madison was your slightly above average president that had his share of successes but also his share of mistakes. As stated earlier I give James Madison a B- grade because he was above average but not excellent, had a couple of important achievement, and, didn't do anything that made him shine.

“James Madison.” //Wikipedia.// 19 Feb. 2009. Wikimedia. 19 Feb. 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Madison Degregorio, William A. //The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents.// New Jersey: Barricade Books Inc, 2005.