March 16, 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution,
recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the
Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States,
was born on a plantation in Virginia.       

Madison first distinguished himself as a student at the College
of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a four-year course of study in two years and, in 1769,
helped found the American Whig Society, the second literary and
debate society at Princeton (and the world), to rival the previously established Cliosophic Society.

After retiring from official political positions, Madison served
Thomas Jefferson’s beloved University of Virginia first as a
member of the board of visitors and then as rector. In 1938,
the State Teachers College at Harrisonburg, Virginia, was
renamed in Madison’s honor as Madison College; in 1976,
it became James Madison University.

The constitutional convention in Virginia. 

The Signing of the Constitution of the United States, with
George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas
Jefferson at the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

The first session of the U.S. Congress was held in New York City
as the U.S. Constitution took effect. However, of the 22 senators
and 59 representatives called to represent the 11 states who had
ratified the document, only nine senators and 13 representatives
showed up to begin negotiations for its amendment.

June 21, 1788: New Hampshire became the ninth and last necessary
state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, thereby making
the document the law of the land.

The Signing of the Constitution. September 17, 1787.

Four years after the United States won its independence from
Great Britain, 55 state delegates, including George Washington,
James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, convene in Philadelphia
to compose a new U.S. constitution on May 25, 1787.

George Washington (right)

Independence Hall‘s Assembly Room.

      Madison’s portrait as congressional delegate at age 32.

James Madison (March 16, 1751 – June 28, 1836)

On March 16, 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution,
recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the
Federalist Papers and fourth president of the United States, 
was born on a plantation in Virginia.

First page of the original handwritten copy of the U.S. Constitution.