James Madison

Served as president from 1809-1817
Era: The Early National Era

American Identity and Culture
During James Madison presidency term from 1809 to 1817, there was an increase in nationalism and American morale after the War of 1812. With the war ending with the Treaty of
Ghent which stated that the fighting was to be stopped between Britain and America, they decided to call it a truce ending the war as a tie. Although the Americans did not win, they did not lose either which greatly boosted their morale and nationalism because they now proved their strength by beating a major power twice. From this boost of nationalism, it encouraged the Americans to expand westward and led a future for America. The war hawks who urged for war later emerged as war heroes who became important figures that set a foundation for the next generation of politicians of America.
Economic Transformation and Globalization
After Thomas Jefferson’s presidency term was over, Madison was left to deal with all the chaos Thomas Jefferson created with his Embargo Act of 1807 which stated that American merchants were not allowed to sail to foreign ports. Jefferson’s embargo act caused an economic depression in the United States that greatly affected the merchants of New England. Although this depression led to Jefferson repealing the embargo act, the depression only got worse. As Jefferson’s successor, Madison passed the Nonintercouse Act of 1809 which allowed Americans to trade with all nations as long as they were not Britain or France. As the depression continued, Macon’s Bill No. 2 was passed in 1810 to restore trade with Britain or France depending on which country would agree to respect America’s neutrality rights. Napoleon of France was the first to agree to these terms; therefore Madison passed an embargo act prohibiting trade with Britain in 1811. However, the French still continued to impress American sailors which showed that Napoleon had no objective of making peace with America.
Environment
One factor that contributed to the War of 1812 was the pressure from frontiersmen to gain more territory. The western Americans wanted more land to use for farming and other agricultural needs leading them to desire the lands of Spanish Florida and British Canada. However in order to conquer these lands, the Indians and the British had to be defeated. Due to the desire to gain the Native American’s land, this eventually led to the death of Tecumseh (a Shawnee warrior who tried to unite all Indian tribes together) in the Battle of Tippecanoe which was led by the governor of Indiana, General William Henry Harrison.
To gain Canada, Madison sent an American army with inadequate supplies to invade Canada using a three-part invasion tactic. The three-part invasion tactic consisted of attacking Canada with an army coming from Detroit, another army attacking from Niagara, and a third army attacking from Lake Champlain. Unfortunately, the American’s failed to capture Canada as they had help from Britain. However at the end of the War of 1812, American came to recognize Canada as a neighbor and a part of the British Empire.
Politics and Citizenship
During the War of 1812, New England merchants betrayed its own union by continuing trade with Britain even though it was prohibited. Eventually this led to the Hartford Convention which was held in Hartford, Connecticut in 1814 to discuss and vote on New England’s succession from the union and to make changes to the constitution. To prevent future wars, the Republicans in the West and the South adopted the two-thirds clause which called for a need of two-thirds of the votes in the Senate and the House of Representatives to declare war. Promptly after the adoption of the two-thirds clause, the Treaty of Ghent was ratified by the Senate in 1815. The Treaty of Ghent declared the war of 1812 over, the return to all conquered lands before the war, and the recognition of the boundaries between Canada and the United States before the war.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
During Madison’s presidency, he did nothing to end the practice of slavery. Similar to all the previous presidents such as Washington and Jefferson, James Madison was a slave-owner. However Madison stated that he strongly opposed slavery and considered it a “great evil”, therefore making Madison a hypocrite because he stated he did not believe in slavery, yet he was a slave owner who owned more than a hundred slaves. Madison also stated that he thought about emancipating slaves, however made no action to emancipate them. The practice of slavery continued in the Southern and Western states as the primary source of labor for harvesting cotton in which the South’s and the West’s economy depended on.
War and Diplomacy
During James Madison’s presidency, the War of 1812 also known as “Madison’s War” took place. There were many factors that led to the outbreak of the war. A huge factor that contributed to the cause of the war was the British impressment of American sailors. Americans believed that the impressment caused by the British was violating the neutrality rights of America. However, not only were the British impressing American sailors, but the French were impressing American sailors as well. Although the French were impressing American sailors too, the Americans viewed that British impressment was far more important and thus decided to declare war in hopes of winning and making Britain respect the Americans neutrality rights. Another factor that led to the war of 1812 was a group of politicians called the war hawks. The war hawks strongly pressed for war against Britain wanting to gain the Canadian territory from Britain and to remove the Native Americans from the frontier. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent which declared no country was the winner and called for the fighting to end.