From “American Minute” for March 16th:
James Madison’s defense of conscience “It is the duty of every man to
render to the Creator such homage … as he believes to be acceptable to
Him”
–
James Madison was born MARCH 16, 1751.
He recalled standing with his father outside the jail in the village of
Orange and heard Baptists preaching from their cell windows — their
crime was preaching without a license.
A Virginia historical marker reads:
“John Weatherford’s Grave … Baptist Preacher … jailed for five
months … for unlicensed preaching. His release was secured by Patrick
Henry.”
Another marker stated:
“Crooked Run Baptist Church … Thomas Ammon became a minister and was imprisoned in the Culpeper jail for preaching.”
James Madison wrote to William Bradford, JANUARY 24, 1774, about the fate of Baptist ministers:
“That diabolical hell-conceived principle of persecution rages among
some and to their eternal infamy the clergy can furnish their quota of
imps for such business.
This vexes me the most of any thing whatever.
There are at this time in the adjacent Culpeper County not less than 5
or 6 well meaning men in jail for publishing their religious sentiments
which in the main are very orthodox….
So I (leave you) to pity me and pray for Liberty of Conscience to revive among us,”
When Baptists had their church services disrupted, Madison introduced
legislation in Virginia’s Assembly, October 31, 1785, titled “A Bill for
Punishing Disturbers of Religious Worship,” which passed in 1789.
Madison attended St. Thomas Episcopal Church, built on land given by Madison’s great-grandfather, Colonel James Taylor II.
A minister who preached there was Presbyterian Rev. James Waddell, a
founding trustee of Liberty Hall (Washington and Lee University).
Years earlier, Waddell had tutored Madison, as well as Meriwether Lewis and future Virginia Governor James Barbour.
George Washington was visited by Rev. James Waddell, whom Patrick Henry
described, along with Rev. Samuel Davies, as the two greatest orators he
had ever heard.
After hearing Rev. Waddell sermons, Madison remarked:
“He has spoiled me for all other preaching.”
Rev. Waddell’s preaching was described by U.S. Attorney General William Wirt, who wrote in 1795:
“Every heart in the assembly trembled in unison. His peculiar phrases
that force of description that the original scene appeared to be, at
that moment, acting before our eyes …
The effect was inconceivable. The whole house resounded with the mingled groans, and sobs, and shrieks of the congregation.”
Madison invited other Presbyterian preachers to speak at his Montpelier
estate, such as Samuel Stanhope Smith and Nathaniel Irwin, of whom he
wrote:
“Praise is in every man’s mouth here for an excellent discourse he this day preached to us.”
In 1776, a year prior to Jefferson drafting his Statute for Religious
Freedom, another Virginian, George Mason, drafted the Virginia
Declaration of Rights.
Madison helped revise Article 16 of Virginia Declaration of Rights (Papers of Madison, I, 171-75) to read:
“That Religion, or the duty we owe to our CREATOR, and manner of
discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by
force or violence;
and, therefore, that all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience,
and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity toward each other.”
Madison wrote in Religious Freedom–A Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments, June 20, 1785:
“The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and
conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it
as these may dictate.
This right is in its nature an unalienable right. It is unalienable,
because the opinions of men, depending only on the evidence contemplated
by their own minds cannot follow the dictates of other men:
It is unalienable also, because what is here a right towards men, is a duty towards the Creator …”
Madison continued:
“It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to Him …
Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must
be considered as a subject of the Governour of the Universe …
We maintain therefore that in matters of Religion, no man’s right is
abridged by the institution of civil society, and that Religion is
wholly exempt from its cognizance.”
In 1787, Madison attended the Constitutional Convention, where his
prominent role resulted him being referred to by some as the Father or
Chief Architect of the Constitution.
He argued for an immediate end to the importation of slaves, though the
Convention settled on 1808. He proposed limiting the power of
slave-holding states with the three-fifths compromise.
To help convince the states to ratify the Constitution, Madison wrote 29
of the 85 articles which made up The Federalist Papers, along with
Alexander Hamilton, who wrote 51, and John Jay, who wrote 5.
Madison wrote in 1829 (Writings 9:351–57):
“The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution — a
miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world. Woe to
the ambition that would meditate the destruction of either!”
James Madison made a journal entry, June 12, 1788:
“There is not a shadow of right in the general government to
inter-meddle with religion … The subject is, for the honor of America,
perfectly free and unshackled. The government has no jurisdiction over
it.”
After the Constitution was ratified, the popular Baptist preacher Rev.
John Leland was considering running for Congress from Virginia.
He reportedly met with James Madison in Orange County and after
Madison’s promise to introduce an Amendment protecting religious
liberty, Leland convinced Baptists to support Madison.
In the first session of Congress, June 7, 1789, Madison introduced:
“The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship.”
This would eventually become the First Amendment.
In 1793, a Yellow Fever epidemic hit Philadelphia, killing 10 percent of
the city’s population. Among the dead was Todd Payne, survived by a
widow, Dolley Payne, and a son, John Payne Todd.
The following year, 25-year-old Dolley Payne married 43-year-old James Madison.
James and Dolley Madison often visited with Jefferson. An account
circulated that Dolley Madison heard of Jefferson visiting with Baptist
Preacher Andrew Tribble (The Christian Watchman, Boston, MA, July 4,
1826):
“Mr. Tribble asked Mr. Jefferson how he was pleased with their church government?
Jefferson replied, that it had struck him with great force, and had
interested him much; that he considered it the only form of pure
democracy that then existed in the world, and had concluded that it
would be the best plan of Government for the American Colonies.”
Thomas F. Curtis wrote in The Progress of Baptist Principles in the Last
Hundred Years (Charleston, S.C.: Southern Baptist Publication Society,
1856):
“A gentleman … in North Carolina … knowing that the venerable Mrs.
(Dolley) Madison had some recollections on the subject, asked her in
regard to them.
She expressed a distinct remembrance of Mr. Jefferson speaking on the
subject, and always declaring that it was a Baptist church from which
these views were gathered.”
President Coolidge stated at the 150th anniversary of the Declaration, July 4, 1926:
“This preaching reached the neighborhood of Thomas Jefferson, who
acknowledged that his ‘best ideas of democracy’ had been secured at
church meetings.”
James Madison was elected the fourth President of the United States. In his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1809. he stated:
“My confidence will under every difficulty be best placed … in the
guardianship and guidance of that Almighty Being whose power regulates
the destiny of nations, whose blessings have been so conspicuously
dispensed to this rising Republic,
and to whom we are bound to address our devout gratitude for the past,
as well as our fervent supplications and best hopes for the future.”
In 1789, Europe descended into war, which had repercussions in America.
The French Revolution was followed by Napoleon’s military conquests.
In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt and defeated its Muslim mamluk slave army in just a few weeks.
He attempted to introduce the concepts of equality, freedom and
democracy, but found there were no words in the Arabic language to
convey such concepts.
Returning to Paris in 1799, Napoleon was crowned Emperor in 1804.
He combined the French and Spanish navies with the intention of invading
England in 1805, but his forces were defeated at the Battle of
Trafalgar, leaving Britain with the most powerful navy in the world.
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia with nearly 500,000 men. Six months
later, he retreated from Russia with less than 50,000 troops.
As Napoleon’s threat to Europe diminished, Britain refocused ambitions on America with the War of 1812.
President James Madison proclaimed a Day of Prayer, July 9, 1812, stating:
“I do therefore recommend … rendering the Sovereign of the Universe
and the Benefactor of mankind the public homage due to His holy
attributes;
of acknowledging the transgressions which might justly provoke the
manifestations of His divine displeasure; of seeking His merciful
forgiveness; …
that in the present season of calamity and war He would take the American people under His peculiar care; …
that He would inspire all nations with a love of justice and of concord,
and with a reverence for the unerring precept of our holy religion, to
do to others as they would require that others should do to them.”
British ships sailed into Lake Eire, and invaded New York, New Orleans and Washington, D.C.
Madison encouraged the nation in his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1813:
“The war with a powerful nation, which forms so prominent a feature in
our situation, is stamped with that justice which invites the smiles of
Heaven on the means of conducting it to a successful termination.”
The next year, on July 23, 1813, Madison issued another Day of Prayer:
“If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy of the favorable
regard of the Holy and Omniscient Being to whom it is addressed, it must
be … guided only by their free choice, by the impulse of their hearts
and the dictates of their consciences … proving that religion, that
gift of Heaven for the good of man, is freed from all coercive edicts.”
On September 10, 1813, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry had an astonishing victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Eire.
Napoleon abdicated the throne on April 6, 1814, and was exiled to the Island of Elba.
On August 24, 1814, a force of 4,500 British soldiers marched toward Washington, D.C. In a panic, citizens hastily evacuated.
Dolley Madison is credited with having the White House staff save the
Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington by having it cut out of its
frame.
With the help of their servant, Paul Jennings, her carriage was able to
make it safely out of the city as British Admiral George Cockburn was
riding in.
Cockburn entered the White House, ate dinner, then set the house on fire.
He had British soldiers enter the U.S. Capitol Building and sit in the Congressmen’s chairs, holding a mock Congress.
He asked, who was in favor of burning the U.S. Capitol, and the soldiers
yelled, “aye,” after which they proceeded to torch the Capitol, the
Treasury, the Library of Congress, and attack the Navy Yard.
The Patent Office was the only government office not burned by the British.
Suddenly, dark clouds rolled in, wind and thunder grew into a
“frightening roar,” and lightning began striking. A tornado touched down
sending debris flying, blowing off roofs, knocking down chimneys and
walls on British troops.
Two cannons were lifted off the ground and dropped yards away. Violent winds slammed both horse and rider to the ground.
The book, Washington Weather, recorded British Admiral George Cockburn exclaiming to a lady:
“Great God, Madam! Is this the kind of storm to which you are accustomed in this infernal country?”
To which the lady replied:
“No, Sir, this is a special interposition of Providence to drive our enemies from our city.”
A British historian wrote:
“More British soldiers were killed by this stroke of nature than from
all the firearms the American troops had mustered in the feeble defense
of their city.”
As British forces fled, torrential rains fell for two hours, extinguishing the fires.
After marching back to their ships over roads covered with downed trees,
they found two of their ships blown ashore and others with damaged
riggings.
On September 1, 1814, Madison wrote:
“The enemy by a sudden incursion has succeeded in invading the capitol
of the nation … During their possession … though for a single day
only, they wantonly destroyed the public edifices …
An occasion which appeals so forcibly to the … patriotic devotion of
the American people, none will forget … Independence … is now to be
maintained … with the strength and resources which … Heaven has
blessed.”
Less than 3 months later, Madison proclaimed a National Day of Public
Humiliation, Fasting & Prayer to Almighty God on November 16, 1814,
stating:
“The two Houses of the National Legislature having by a joint resolution
expressed their desire that in the present time of public calamity and
war, a day may be recommended to be observed by the people of the United
States
as a day of public humiliation and fasting and of prayer to Almighty God
for the safety and welfare of these States, His blessing on their arms,
and a speedy restoration of peace … of confessing their sins and
transgressions, and of strengthening their vows of repentance …
that He would be graciously pleased to pardon all their offenses … I
have deemed it proper … to recommend … a day of … humble adoration
to the Great Sovereign of the Universe.”
General Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans, providentially defeating a larger British force on January 18, 1815.
After the War, Madison proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving & Devout Acknowledgment to Almighty God, March 4, 1815:
“No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness
of the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the
people of the United States …
To the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted
for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil,
which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land …
I now recommend … a day on which the people of every religious
denomination may in their solemn assemblies unite their hearts and their
voices in a freewill offering to their Heavenly Benefactor of their
homage of thanksgiving and of their songs of praise.”
In the 1830s, Madison served a term as president of the American
Colonization Society which helped free blacks found the country of
Liberia.
The Madison’s had family problems. Dolley Madison’s son, John Payne
Todd, became an alcoholic, repeatedly jailed, and ran up enormous
gambling debts.
James Madison bailed him out, even mortgaging the family’s ancestral
Montpelier plantation. After his death, bankrupt Dolley had to sell it.
Dolley lived as a pauper in Washington, DC, till she sold her husband’s memoirs to Congress.
During these impoverished years, Dolley was cared for by none other than
Paul Jennings, the Madison’s former servant, who made sure she had
enough food, and even gave her money out of his own pocket.
Paul Jennings was freed with the help of Senator Daniel Webster, by
whose recommendation he got a job at the Department of the Interior’s
Pension Bureau.
In 1863, Paul Jennings’ story was published as “A Colored Man’s Reminiscences of James Madison.”
In it, he recalled Madison:
“One day riding home from court with old Tom Barbour (father of Governor
Barbour), they met a colored man, who took off his hat. Mr. Madison
raised his, to the surprise of old Tom; to whom Mr. Madison replied, “I
never allow a negro to excel me in politeness.”
Jennings continued:
“Mr. Madison, I think, was one of the best men that ever lived. I never
saw him in a passion, and never knew him to strike a slave, although he
had over one hundred; neither would he allow an overseer to do it.
Whenever any slaves were reported to him as stealing or ‘cutting up’
badly, he would send for them and admonish them privately, and never
mortify them by doing it before others. They generally served him very
faithfully.”
Jennings described Madison further:
“He was temperate in his habits. I don’t think he drank a quart of brandy in his whole life …
When he had hard drinkers at his table, who had put away his choice
Madeira pretty freely, in response to their numerous toasts, he would
just touch the glass to his lips, or dilute it with water, as they
pushed about the decanters. For the last fifteen years of his life he
drank no wine at all.”
As a young man, James Madison wrote to a college friend William Bradford, November 9, 1772:
“A watchful eye must be kept on ourselves lest while we are building
ideal monuments of renown and bliss here we neglect to have our names
enrolled in the Annals of Heaven.”
As an old man, Madison wrote to Frederick Beasley, November 20, 1825:
“The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the
moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments
which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources.”
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