The Top Sixteen Things That Most Americans Probably Don't Know

The Top Sixteen Things That Most Americans Probably Don’t Know About James Madison The Florida Verve

n March 16, 2018, JMI celebrated characteristics, habits, and quirks? From the 267th birthday of the institute’s captivating to unconventional, here are namesake, James Madison. This 16 facts about James Madison that most OFounding Father is well-known far and Americans probably do not know. wide, and rightfully so. After all, he was the James Madison wasn’t born at his principal architect of the U.S. Constitution family’s ancestral home, Montpelier. and its Bill of Rights, he co-authored the Instead, on March 16, 1751, he was born in Federalist Papers, and he served as the Port Conway, VA, at Belle Grove Plantation, fourth President of the United States. But the childhood home of his mother, Nelly what about Madison’s personality, daily life, Conway Madison. The original home where

www.jamesmadison.org | 77 Madison was born no longer stands, but a Paul Jennings’ memoir A Colored Man’s Virginia Historical Marker is located near Reminiscences of James Madison, he the site. describes Madison as dressing “wholly in James Madison liked throwing black.” Jennings was born into slavery at barbecues. Archaeologists at Montpelier Montpelier and accompanied the Madisons have discovered barbecue pits and other to the White House as a young child. related items that date back to Madison’s We tend to think of James Madison lifetime. Virginians loved their barbecue as the dignified persona we see in artists’ parties and the festive flair that came with depictions of the era, but he had a folksy them: good food, good drink, and good nickname: “Jemmy.” Indeed, among his or bad dancing. Indeed, the months of contemporaries Madison was frequently spring, summer, and fall were referred to as referred to as “Jemmy” throughout his “barbecue season” by Virginians during the life. His parents originated the nickname. 19th century. Apparently, it’s an old Scottish moniker that Hand me down my walking cane. Per signifies endearment. Thomas Jefferson’s will, he bequeathed his The common historical narrative favorite walking staff with a handle made of concerning Madison’s personality is that animal horn to James Madison. Of the gift he lacked a sense of humor. This is false. Madison wrote “a token of the place I held According to close friends and family, in the friendship of one whom I so much Madison’s humor was brilliant. Indeed, he revered and loved when living, and whose loved the ludicrous and didn’t take himself memory can never cease to be dear to me.” too seriously at all. One visitor at Montpelier Madison was a bibliophile. His library remarked that James and Dolley Madison at Montpelier consisted of over 4,000 books “…tease each other like two children.” and various ephemera. Madison, whose presidency was harshly Madison was a great storyteller. Despite criticized during the War of 1812, received being an introvert, he was well known rare praise from no less than an important for giving entertaining accounts of the contemporary. Although some historians Founding Era. Indeed, while enjoying the still discount the importance of Madison’s privacy and comfort of his Montpelier presidency, the independent-minded home in his post-Presidency years, John Adams did not. In a letter to Thomas Madison captivated visitors with his stories Jefferson, he wrote that James Madison “… about the most important moments in the acquired more glory, and established more formative stages of U.S. history. Visitors Union, than all his three Predecessors, often described the flash in his blue eyes as Washington, Adams, and Jefferson put he regaled them with an insider’s account of together.” this important period. Apparently Madison was a huge fan He was “The Man in Black” long of hats. In fact, he rarely went outside before that label became attached to other without wearing one. In Lynne Cheney’s celebrities. Evidently Madison liked to excellent biography James Madison, A keep it fairly simple in terms of style. In Life Reconsidered, she notes that on one The JOURNAL of The JAMES MADISON INSTITUTE

occasion, “Someone took his hat, his only voters on Election Day. hat, forcing him to stay indoors for two He might have suffered from epilepsy. days until at last he managed to buy another Lynne Cheney states that Madison on e .” frequently had “sudden attacks, somewhat At Montpelier James and Dolley resembling epilepsy.” surrounded with themselves with their Alexander Hamilton’s infamous rival famous friends in a figurative sense. and dueling slayer introduced Madison to According to historian and biographer his future wife, Dolley. Indeed, it was none Ralph Ketcham an area inside their home other than Aaron Burr who set up one of the “was sometimes called the ‘hall of notables,’ most famous couples in American history. for the many portraits and busts of the Madison departed life on his own Madisons’ friends, including Washington, terms. His last words, “Nothing more Franklin, Jefferson, John Adams, Monroe, than a change of mind, my dear,” are often Lafayette, Baron von Humboldt, and quoted, but there’s more to the story. While ot h e r s .” on his deathbed, Madison was advised by The Madisons loved to exercise. Their his doctor to take some stimulants to keep preferred method was taking long walks him alive to see the Fourth of July, the same on the grounds of the Montpelier estate. historical date when his fellow Founding However, if the weather was inclement, they Fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, would chase each other around the porch of died. Madison, however, declined. Instead, their home. he died on the 60th anniversary of the Madison failed to win a 1777 election to adoption of the Constitution of his beloved the Virginia House of Delegates because he home state, Virginia. refused to go along with the Old Dominion’s tradition at the time of giving alcohol to