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James Madison

Republican

In office from March 4, 1809- March 4, 1817

George Clinton 1805-1812 Elbridge Gerry 1813-1814

Madison's presidency was plagued by a multitude of unfortunate circumstances that resulted in forcing him to make a number of tactical blunders; many of these were primarily due to unfortunate circumstances, and exacerbated by mismanagement from the White House.

In the case of United States President James Madison, it is hard argue that any of his decisions were popular - from the establishment of the Second National Bank to the War of 1812. If James Madison's presidency were graded on a letter scale it would be assigned a "C" grade, because although his poor decision making eventually plunged the United States into war with Britain, his wildly unpopular Second Bank of the United States improved the economic stability of the country at the time.

Madison's relations with congress in respect to foreign relations were relatively strong, primarily due to the state of war that was active with the British, as well as to the fact that the congress was primarily made up of republicans Because of this, there were few foreign relation affairs that congress had to pass beyond the declaration of war. However, during the course of his presidency, various domestic affairs issues where congress was divided by party lines; primarily revolving around the Second National Bank. Madison's attempt to establish the Second Bank of the United States, he faced opposition from various parties, including the "old" Republicans, anti-British Republicans, and the already established state banking interests. Although they fundamentally disagreed with the idea of a state funded bank, Madison used the necessity for funding in the war as a reason to put the bank into law, as the country had no finance to begin a war. Despite being a Republican, he chose to support this Federalist notion because of the obvious benefits it posed-an action that he received criticisms for. Although he did not completely align with congress, they had a function, well working business relationship which allowed them to get through a war.

In Madison's first inaugural address, he cited one of his goals with foreign relations as "To cherish peace and friendly intercourse with all nations having correspondent dispositions; to maintain sincere neutrality toward belligerent nations; to prefer in all cases amicable discussion and reasonable accommodation of differences to a decision of them by an appeal to arms". To attempt to create peace between the various warring nations, as well as achieve neutrality on the seas, Madison tried to enforce the Intercourse act. The intercourse act was a bill that would embargo France and Britain as long as they refused to accept American neutrality on the seas. Soon after, this economic blunder was enforced by Madison; later sending the United States on an economic downturn which would later cause a panic. When the the economic downturn that resulted from the embargo with two of the largest trading nations in the world began to take effect in America, Macon's Bill No.2 was passed. This new bill repealed the intercourse act, as well as set forth conditions that if either France or Britain recognized America neutrally on the seas, they would resume the embargo on the other nation. This bill allowed Napoleon to take advantage of the United States' offer. forcing them to resume the embargo against the British; eventually plunging the United States into the war of 1812 with the British. While this was not the sole cause of the war, it was a contributing factor that forced the Untied States before absolutely necessary. This was clearly Madison's worst decision, as it diplomatically weakened the United States economy and forced us into an unnecessary war.

The best decision James Madison had was to begin the Second Bank of the United States. Despite crossing party lines and despite being an "imperfect" new law, it served a valuable purpose; financiering the War of 1812, and successfully managed to stabilize the United States economy, providing much needed currency and curtailing inflation due to the increase of banknotes in private sector banks. During this time period, the bank managed to help the nation through a difficult economic situation; however it still carried over much of the corruption that plagued the first national bank, eventually leading to its termination by president Jackson. Although its time was short, it served a valuable purpose in the agricultural boom after the 1812 war; providing an effective medium of trading of the western lands. Although the bank had many positives, it also had an assortment of problems, such as corruption and over-extension. Despite these long term drawbacks, Madison was correct in choosing to create the Second Bank of the United states, as it provided many short term bonuses.

Perhaps the most important part of Madison's presidency was the beginning of the Second Bank of the United States. While the bank was, in the end, a colossal failure, it served as important lesson in how a government sponsored bank should be run and the legalities behind it, as well as how the federal government received financing during the war of 1812. The supreme court ruled a great number of times on the legality and extent of power of the federal government in regards to a national banking system, such as how far its powers reached as determined by the major court case regarding such issues was McCulloch V. Maryland. This established the federal bank was superior to state laws, making the future use of a federal reserve financially viable. Later on, although not during Madison's presidency, it was established that a federally controlled central bank as legal; so long as it was firmly within the power of the government. Furthermore, these cases led to the development of our modern day federal reserve banking system. While the Second Bank of the United States was not a complete success, it served as a very important stepping stone between the "free banking" system, and the federal reserve system. For these reasons, it was likely the most important decision Madison made during his presidency.

Despite all the negative outcomes of Madison's presidency, it was not a catastrophe. The United States did not have a violent political upheaval, and managed to hold itself together through the war of 1812. Madison's presidency is awarded a C grade, because his decision to establish the Second National Bank, although unpopular, saved the country from economic woes; and, although despite that singular good decision, other poor decisions and spats with Congress led to a largely ineffective presidency.

Bibliography

DeGregorio, William A. // The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents //. Fort Lee, NJ: Easton, 2009. Print. "Second Bank of the United States." //United States HISTORY//. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb 2011. . //Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents of the United States.// Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.: for sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1989; Bartleby.com, 2001. [|www.bartleby.com/124/]. "American President: James Madison." //American President An Online Resource Reference//. Miller Center of Public Affairs, 2006. Web. 18 Feb 2011. .