Links:

•         Common Sense (1776)

•         Declaration of Independence

•         Jefferson’s ‘original Rough draught’ of the Declaration of Independence

•         Articles of Confederation

•         Transcript of the Constitution of the United States

•         The Fifteenth Amendment’s Right to Vote Clause: Doctrine and Practice

•         Transcription of the Bill of Rights

•         Transcript of Marbury v Madison

Historical Cameo: James Madison

James Madison (1751–1836) was a Democratic-Republican, the main architect of the US Constitution and the fourth President of the US (1809–17). Madison was responsible for drafting the Bill of Rights.

Madison was born to a family of Virginia planters. In 1771, he graduated from the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton). He later practised law. During the 1770s, he helped draft the Virginia Constitution and was a delegate in the Virginia Congress. Before entering the Virginia legislature in 1784, he was a dyed-in-the-wool Federalist but his position moderated as his political experience grew. He came to appreciate the importance of states’ rights. Madison encouraged a national convention to replace the Articles of Confederation with the US Constitution. Madison represented Virginia at the Constitutional Convention held at Philadelphia between May and September 1787. He drafted the Constitution and subsequently promoted its ratification.

After the Constitutional Convention, Madison along with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton wrote a series of 85 essays known as The Federalist Papers (1787–8) under the collective pseudonym of Publius to encourage the ratification of the proposed Constitution. The essays argued for a strong central government managed through a system of checks and balances. In one essay, Madison defended the doctrine of separation of powers by arguing that it allowed checks and balances on each branch of government:

It may be a reflection of human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

While human fallibility made government necessary, Madison thought controls on government were necessary to prevent abuse.

Madison was elected President in 1808. He took office in 1809. Warfare characterised Madison’s two terms in office. In his first year, Madison blocked trade with Great Britain and France. Congress authorised trade again on the condition that trade would be forbidden with the one country that did not accept America’s neutrality. On the face of it, France accepted America’s neutrality. In retaliation, Great Britain forced American sailors into naval service (called ‘impressment’). They seized American cargoes. Madison declared war (‘the War of 1812’) against the British. The War of 1812 was a decisive victory for the US.

Historical Cameo: Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the main author of the Declaration of Independence, minister to France (1784–9), the United States’ first secretary of state, and the third President of the US (1801–09). He dabbled in the sciences and, like William Blackstone, was an architectural enthusiast.

Jefferson was born on his father’s plantation, Shadwell, in Virginia. He studied at the College of William and Mary and later took articles of clerkship (the traditional form of training to be a lawyer) with a prominent Virginia attorney and signatory of the Declaration of Independence, George Wythe. After finishing articles, Jefferson practised as a lawyer. He was subsequently a member of the Virginia legislature. He joined the Continental Congress formed to discuss grievances against the British government. There, he was appointed to a five-member committee that had the task of preparing a Declaration of Independence. The committee selected Jefferson to draft the Declaration, which was approved by Congress with only minor changes. One change was the deletion of a clause blaming George III for the slave trade.

After the Declaration, Jefferson participated in law reform in Virginia and served as governor of Virginia for two terms. He was then appointed minister to France (1784–9). When Jefferson returned from France, he retired from public life. Jefferson formally came out of retirement when the Republicans put him down as their presidential candidate; instead, he was elected vice-president.

In 1800, Jefferson was elected President. Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, had actually tied even though Burr was his party’s vice-presidential candidate.  At the time, the Constitution was silent on the naming of candidates for president and vice-president. The stalemate was resolved by a vote in the House of Representatives. They elected Jefferson. During Jefferson’s presidency, the Louisiana Territory (1803) was acquired. To explore the Louisiana Territory’s western limits, Jefferson planned the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jefferson’s second term was marked by war between Great Britain and France.

Jefferson resigned office consciously not taking a third term. This established an unwritten rule limiting presidential office to two terms (totalling eight years). Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) was the first and only president (1933–1945) to break this two-term precedent. After Roosevelt’s tenure, the Constitution was amended to restrict presidential office to two terms: see the Twenty-Second Amendment.

In retirement, Jefferson established the University of Virginia. He developed its modern curriculum and fulfilled his architectural plans for the campus. He could watch the University’s construction from his Monticello plantation. Though Jefferson opposed slavery, and did so in the draft Declaration of Independence, he was a lifelong slave-owner. Jefferson also had a longstanding relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Compelling evidence exists suggesting that Jefferson fathered at least one of Hemings’ children.

Historical Cameo: John Marshall

John Marshall (1755–1835) was the fourth and longest serving Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court (1801–35). He was Jefferson’s cousin.

The eldest of fifteen children, Marshall was born to a prominent Virginian family in 1755. He and his siblings were home-schooled and had access to their father’s (and his employer’s) extensive library. Marshall’s father, Thomas, bought a set of Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (see chapter four) for his firstborn. By the age of 27, Marshall had read Blackstone’s Commentaries at least four times.  During the American War of Independence, Marshall joined a militia unit and actively served against the British. For four years, after accepting a commission as lieutenant, he fought alongside his father’s friend, George Washington. Upon his discharge, Marshall studied law, developed a steady legal practice, and entered politics as a Federalist.

Marshall was a spokesperson at the Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788). It was here that 168 delegates debated whether to ratify or reject the US Federal Constitution. In 1799, he was elected to the Congress on the urging of former President, George Washington. The incumbent President, John Adams, then nominated Marshall to be Secretary of State. In January 1801, two months before leaving office, John Adams nominated Marshall, then Secretary of State, to be the fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Marshall accepted the nomination and took office in early February 1801.