James Madision

President No. 3 (1809-1817)
Montpelier The day after we toured Monticello, we were off to Montpelier, James Madison's estate in nearby Orange County. Now, Cathy is a graduate of James Madison University, in relatively nearby Harrisonburg, so she was particularly looking forward to this visit, since she never did a road trip during college.

Montpelier is in Orange, about 45 minutes outside Charlottesville, Va., on Route 20. Because the ground contains a horse race track as well as the mansion and visitor center, they collect the $16 entrance fee immediately upon entering the property.

We started off at the visitor’s center with a movie on the life of James Madison, our fourth president and also the father of the Bill of Rights.

Note: We highly recommend watching the visitor center films on your tours of the presidential estates. Tour guides have time to only tell you so much, and films are able to fill in many of the gaps.

Following the film, we walked over to the mansion about 5 minutes away and were met by Bob Davis, our tour guide, and two other visitors from South Carolina. (Note: A big advantage to visiting in the winter is that it is not crowded.)

The Mansion Montpelier has just undergone a five-year, $24 million renovation in which the mansion was brought back to its original size, and it now represents the house when the Madisons lived there, not when the DuPont family lived there and expanded upon it.

Currently, the house is devoid of furnishings — it looks like a house for sale where the owners have already moved out.

It seems Dolly Madison sold most of the house's contents as well as the house itself after the death of her husband to help drum in some quick cash. Archivists are now searching to find the original pieces or at the least to learn what types of furnishings were in the house so that they can purchase or build copies. They have had limited success, though, and the success they have had — red velvet wallpaper for the dining room, for example — has not come cheap.

One piece of furniture that historians are sure Madison used was a “campeachy chair.” This low-slung brown chair was a comfort to Madison, who suffered from severe rheumatism for most of his life. (It was a comfort to us as well: We found a replica of this surprisingly comfortable chair in a warm sunny room and Cathy used the opportunity to grab a quick nap. You'll notice a trend — we tend to sneak in a nap on most of our presidential visits. Don't even ask about art museums, but let's just say that any nice, dark film room in an art museum is visited early and often.)

Upstairs, gazing out on the Shenandoah Mountains from Madison's study, Bob pointed to dark spots on the wooden floor that he said were likely ink spots and might indicate where Madison’s desk had been. It was in this room that Madison reviewed the pros and cons of different governmental systems and developed the Virginia Plan prior to attending the Constitutional Convention in 1787.

In another upstairs room is a cutaway of one of the walls that showed the renovation nicely. When the archivists were working on the walls, they found mouse nests that contained pieces of paper from Madison's time — a most valuable finding, indeed.

His Life Montpelier already belonged to the Madison family when James was born in 1751. Like Jefferson, Madison was a bibliophile. He read all of his father’s books by the age of 11. Madison attended college at the far off College of New Jersey, now known as Princeton. (Unlike the other Virginian presidents, he did not go to nearby William and Mary.)

Constitutional Convention James Madison is considered the pivotal figure in the Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia in 1787 to find a way to strengthen the confederation of states as outlined in the Articles of Confederation.

How did historians come to this conclusion?

--First, Madison was key in persuading George Washington to attend the convention. He (and others) believed that without Washington’s involvement, the public would not accept the results. --Second, prior to attending the Constitutional Convention, he spent the spring of 1787 studying world governments to learn what did and didn’t work. From his research, he developed the Virginia Plan.
--Third, Madison persuaded the Virginia delegation and eventually all of the delegates to throw out, and not merely amend, the Articles of Confederation.
--Fourth, Madison was the only delegate to attend every meeting of the Constitutional Convention.
--Fifth, Madison, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay wrote The Federalist, a series of 85 newspaper articles that explained to the public the reasons for the Constitution.
--And finally, Madison led Virginia to ratify the Constitution over the objections of the brilliant orator Patrick Henry.

Bill of Rights Madison eventually came to the view that the Constitution gave too much power to the federal government. In 1789, he penned a series of amendments to the Constitution, of which the first 10 became known as the Bill of Rights. These include the freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the freedom from self-incrimination, etc., that we know so well. In 1791, the amendments were ratified under the rules set forth in the Constitution.

Dolly Madison Madison did not marry until well after the Constitutional Convention in 1794 at the age of 43. He married a much younger Quaker widow, 26-year-old Dolly, having been introduced to her by — the not yet infamous — Aaron Burr. Dolly was taller than the 5-foot-4, 100 pound Madison.

Dolly was a popular extrovert and part of the reason for Madison’s political success. Our tour guide told us that one of Madison’s opponents said he could have beaten Madison alone but not the two together.

Political Life While Madison served in the House of Representative, he was an ally and confidant of President Washington. However, over time their political philosophies diverged as Madison aligned with Jefferson’s Republican views of limited central government. Later he served as President Jefferson’s Secretary of State for two terms, including during the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

Madison, the Republican Madison's conversion to Republicanism is odd since he was a staunch Federalist at the time he wrote the Federalist with Hamilton. Author Joseph Ellis suggests that the reason that Madison and Jefferson became so opposed to the Federalists was because of slavery. They saw the power of the federal government after Hamilton set up a national bank (the Bank of the United States) to consolidate national finances and absorb state war debt. They feared that if the government could do set up a national bank, it also could also abolish slavery. And as planters and plantation owners, they could not see any way to run the Virginia economy without slavery.

Madison held dozens slaves at this plantation. Our guide, Bob, said that he treated his slaves well and that they attended Madison's funeral. However, we spied this rather telling sign at the mansion: “These last few days I saw a Negro ninety-five years old engaged in splitting wood. He belongs to President Madison.” — Baron de Montlezun, 1816.

We also read a sign describing how Madison had brought one of his slaves, Billey, to Philadelphia for the Constitutional Convention. Following the Convention, Madison declined to return Billey to the plantation because he was afraid that the Billey would advocate the idea of freedom to the other slaves. Madison said, “I am persuaded that his mind is too thoroughly tainted to be a fit companion for fellow slaves in Virginia.” He ended up selling Billey in Pennsylvania. Madison thought his action justifiable since he didn’t get as much money as he could have elsewhere and because in Pennsylvania a slave could be held only for seven years.

Presidency Madison was elected president in 1808 and served two terms. The War of 1812 occurred on Madison’s watch. The main issue was that Britain was stopping American ships and kidnapping what they claimed were British deserters and “impressing” them into service on British ships. (British sailors worked under notoriously harsh conditions.) The war went on until 1815 and featured naval engagements on the Great Lakes, the burning of the White House, the writing of the “Star Spangled Banner” during the bombardment of Ft. McHenry, and Andrew Jackson’s heroic defense of New Orleans (after the peace treaty had already been signed).

Later Life The “Sage of Montpelier” retired to his plantation in 1817. With the help of Dolly, he spent his time editing his notes from the Constitutional Convention. Since the meetings were held in secret, his Notes on the Debates of the Federal Constitution notes represent his version of the events of the time.

Madison died in 1836 at the age of 85, the last of the Founding Fathers to die. After Madison died, the much younger Dolly wore black mourning clothes for the rest of her life. She died deeply in debt and had to sell off much of Montpelier. Some of this was due to the profligacy of Payne Todd, her son from her first marriage.

We find it troubling that both Jefferson and Madison managed to become so deeply in debt. For all of their political acumen, they couldn’t seem to manage their household finances.

Place in History For his masterful accomplishments at the Constitutional Convention, Madison is relatively unheralded. We wonder how much of this is due to recent (say last 100 years) publicity and promotion. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation has been around since 1923 and has the advantage of funding from thousands of descendants. Montpelier was owned by the DuPonts until 1984 and was not fully transferred to the Montpelier Foundation until 2000. In addition, Madison and Dolly had no children — hence no descendants.

We should always remember that in the absence of irrefutable evidence, history is interpreted and shaped by those who were born after historical events. For example, the simple phrase “Founding Fathers” did not even exist until coined by Warren G. Harding in 1916. Somehow we always thought the term was used immediately after the Constitutional Convention.

It was interesting to also learn that some of the tour guides think that the Montpelier Foundation is not promoting the Constitution as well as it could at this important time in our history. In recent months, the Tea Party movement has been pushing the strict interpretation of the Constitution. In fact, the week before we visited Montpelier, the incoming House of Representatives read the entire Constitution on the chamber floor. (However, they left out some parts that have been amended, effectively removing any mention of slavery. This is disturbing since the reading becomes part of the Congressional Record.)

References
Ellis, J. 2000. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, New York.

Ellis, J. 2007. American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, New York.

Wills, G. 2002. James Madison. Henry Holt and Company. New York, New York.

Thomas Jefferson

President No. 3 (1801-1809)
Monticello
Not satisfied with taking another one-year break between visiting the presidents (see our timeframe between George Washington and John Adams), we headed out to Thomas Jefferson’s famed Monticello estate on a cold, cloudy, windy January day.

The three-hour drive to Charlottesville, Va., from the Washington, D.C., area was peaceful and scenic, since we chose to head down the bucolic Route 29 through the Shenandoah Valley instead of I-81 or I-64.

Travel note: There are several Wawa and Sheetz service stations on the road to Charlottesville. We particularly like the touch-screen ordering kiosks and the cleanliness of the stores. But our “quick” stops end up taking about 30 minutes as Cathy slowly peruses the aisles looking at all the food options. She has not taken a side on the Sheetz vs. Wawa debate – she likes both and stops at both.MonticelloThe visit to Monticello starts at the visitor’s center, where tourists can watch a short movie about Jefferson’s life. Then you hop on a shuttle for a 10-minute trip to the mansion, located at the highest point on the mountain overlooking Charlottesville.

We were met by a guide—without an overcoat in the biting cold—who pointed out the vastness of the land inherited by Jefferson in 1768. It extended almost as far as we could see.

Then he shepherded us out of the cold and into the house, pointing out that the single- pane class and the high ceilings would have made the house quite cold in Jefferson’s day. Almost every room has a fireplace, but the warmth would not have permeated very far.

Note: All the presidential residences we have visited so far have not allowed indoor photography. Thus, all of our photos are of the outside of the house or in the out buildings.
Jefferson rebuilt the home on several occasions, taking ideas from Roman architecture. His final version — the one standing today — has a domed roof and 13 skylights. Other features borrowed from houses he saw on his travels include alcoves for the beds and a dumbwaiter to quickly bring food from the outside, ground-level kitchen to the dining area.

The rooms at Monticello are quite small, particularly compared to those at Adams’ residence. As Adams’ house was expanded and modernized, the rooms became larger and larger, as Abigail filled them with all types of décor she saw on her European travels. Monticello comparatively is quite spare, and the rooms tiny.

Jefferson was a bibliophile and could read in seven languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Old English, and English. He had three immense libraries during his life. He lost the first library in a fire. He donated his second library of 6,500 books to the federal government to replenish the Library of Congress following the burning of Washington by the British in 1814. When he died, he had rebuilt his personal library to about 2,000 books. He was also a prodigious writer, having written 19,000 letters in his life – a rate of about five letters a week during adulthood.

Jefferson was deeply in debt at the end of his life — troubling because one of his written principles, on display at the gift shop, was “Never spend money before you have earned it.”

He had six children with his wife, Martha, although four of them died young. His daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, had 11 children who have produced about 2,100 descendents today — more than any other president. His wife, sadly, died from complications following the birth of their last child.

Our guide parted by thanking us for the opportunity to get out of the house and talk. He quipped, “I can’t talk at home because I’m married.”

The GroundsThe grounds are the home of Monticello’s inner workings. Underneath the house are the kitchen, stables, blacksmith shop, and other critical functions that kept Monticello humming. The ice house, also under the building, was particularly interesting. During the winter, workers filled the deep hole with lake ice and covered it with straw. When properly tended, the ice would last into the following fall.

On the cold walk back to the visitor’s center (we chose exercise instead of the much warmer shuttle bus), we stopped at the family cemetery. Many of the major figures from the time are buried there as well as those from more recent times. We learned from a shivering young guide that any member of the extended Jefferson family can be buried there. (Not sure about the Sally Hemings branch of the family tree.)

Jefferson designed his own gravesite and marker — an obelisk — for his tomb, as well as the wording that lists the accomplishments for which he wished to be remembered:
“Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father of the University of Virginia”. (Strangely, he never mentioned his presidency.)

Visitor’s CenterWe continued our way down the trail to the two-story visitor’s center museum. It was here that we learned that Jefferson was also an inventor, although our guide pointed out that he was not much of one; he redesigned a moldboard to improve the performance of plows.

One exhibit shows how Monticello was built. A 3-D visualization shows each stage of the creation including how Jefferson had the mansion mostly torn down and reconstructed following his return from France in 1789.

We were also impressed with a multi-screen exhibit (21 screens) called the Boisterous Sea of Liberty. However, as we sat in the warm, sunlit room, listening to the soft music, and watching the presentation, our eyes got heavy and we napped sitting up. OK, maybe that was the plan all along. Later Cathy asked if I knew there were people in the room with us. “Um, no.”

Note: We have found that we can’t get a complete picture of each president in a half day visit. Therefore, we are doing some post-visit research to get a fuller understanding. Some of that material is presented below.
Early Political LifeJefferson is, of course, known as the writer of the Declaration of Independence. He wrote the Declaration during the summer of 1776 when he was only 33 years old.

He later served as governor of Virginia from 1779–1781. During his governorship he was almost captured by the British and was forced to flee.

He was appointed Minister for France from 1785 to 1789 and was absent from the Constitutional Convention. Upon his return from France, Jefferson served in the Washington administration as Secretary of State. Following Washington’s retirement, he ran against John Adams in the election of 1796 but came in second in the voting. Under the Constitution at that time, the second-place finisher served as vice president, which he did under John Adams.

By this time, Jefferson had changed his political stance from a staunch Federalist (with a belief in a strong central government) to a Republican (with an emphasis on state autonomy). Because Adams remained a Federalist, their formerly close relationship soured. Jefferson was strongly opposed to Adams’ Alien and Sedition Act of 1800, which had the effect of squelching political dialog and which Jefferson had repealed during his presidency.

Jefferson’s PresidencyJefferson won a bitter battle with Adams for the 1800 presidential election. The legacy of that fight was the establishment of the two-party system that still exists today. Jefferson was reelected in 1804.

Perhaps Jefferson’s greatest presidential accomplishment was the purchase of a huge piece of land from cash-starved French in 1803 — the Louisiana Purchase. The territory extended from New Orleans all the way to the Canadian border, effectively doubling the size of the country for a mere $15 million. To learn more about this vast territory, he commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the territory.

Post PresidencyJefferson and Adams reconciled in 1813 and redeveloped a strong relationship exclusively through letters. (One can argue that Jefferson and Adams were the first Facebook friends. Without physical or voice contact, their entire friendship was based on letters—dozens and dozens of letters.) As we noted during our John Adams write-up, their friendship lasted until their deaths on the same day – July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson and James Madison were also long-term friends. Madison’s home, Montpelier, was a day’s ride from Monticello, and he and Dolly Madison often visited. In fact, one of the rooms in Monticello is named the Madison Room because it was there that the Madisons stayed overnight. (We particularly liked the alcove bed in that room and were plotting how we could steal a nap in it.)

Thomas Jefferson and SlaveryJefferson inherited slaves with his large plantation. Apparently, the question of slavery troubled him. He believed it was a moral evil but that future generations would have to deal with this “deplorable entanglement.”

However, it didn’t trouble him enough to end his own practice of it. He owned between 150 and 200 slaves. He reportedly hired overseers who were known for their cruelty including the whipping of slaves. (On the positive side, if there can be one, he also gave incentives to some slaves and promoted them for hard work. For example, he gave one slave a barrel for every 30 barrels he made, which he could then sell and make money when not working.)

Even the house slaves worked hard. They were responsible for the weekly washing of clothes, linens and other laundry. This involved soaking, soaping, rubbing, washing, boiling, draining, rinsing, bluing, rerinsing, starching, wringing, drying, and ironing. Since there was no running water, all water needed to be brought up and heated in tubs.

During his life it was rumored that Jefferson had fathered children with Sally Hemings, one of his young, light skinned slaves. Recent DNA evidence shows a high likelihood that he fathered at least one and possibly all six of Hemings’ children. When I asked a docent about how often the sex was consensual, she offered that “slaves were considered property.” In the present day that would be considered rape, but it obviously it wasn’t seen that way by Jefferson (I hope). Heming’s was actually related to Jefferson’s deceased wife, Martha, through her father. (Don't ask.)  Jefferson scholar Paul Finkelman of the Albany Law School calls Thomas Jefferson “one of the most deeply creepy people in American history.” 

Jefferson was deeply in debt in his later years and was unable to provide for the freedom of his slaves upon his death (as Martha Washington had done). His grandson ended up selling the 130 slaves.

Jefferson’s ownership of slaves erodes his credibility — how could he write the famous, inspiring phrase “all men are created equal” and yet own other men and women? The same applied to Washington, Madison and James Monroe, the other plantation-owning Founding Fathers.

Cathy suggested that he and the other slave-holding Founding Fathers rationalized their behavior. Perhaps they thought (correctly) that the institution was not of their making and that this infrastructure was already in place. Perhaps they thought that the agrarian South couldn’t economically sustain itself without slavery. Perhaps they thought that slaves were somehow not human. Joseph Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, postulates that that the Founding Fathers needed to be practical and that there was zero chance of reaching a consensus on the Constitution if the issue of slavery was included. It was insoluble at that time.

All these reasons make sense. But, if anyone were to understand the implications of withholding freedom from a group of people, it was the Founding Fathers. They of all people should have known better. Many of them were not just tolerating slavery, they were practicing it. I can’t think of a historical parallel of such demonstrable hypocrisy.

As a final note, Halliday (2001) points out that at least some of the inscriptions on the Jefferson Memorial are truncated. One, for example, reads, "Nothing in more certainly written in the book of fate, than that these people are to be free." But the same sentence as written in Jefferson's autobiography concludes with, "...nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government."

References
Ellis, J. 2000. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, New York.

Ellis, J. 2007. American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic. Alfred A. Knopf. New York, New York.

Halliday, E.M. 2001. Understanding Thomas Jefferson. Harper Collins Publishers. New York, New York.

Schuessler, J.  2012.  Jefferson:  Slaveholder Vs. Patriot.  New York Times.  November 27, 2012.