Okla-homey
3/16/2007, 06:42 AM
Mar. 16, 1751: Happy Birthday James Madison!
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/10836/2000969253703680913_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000969253703680913)
Wartime president and Father or our Constitution. At 5 feet, 4 inches in height and 100 pounds, Madison was the nation’s shortest and lightest president
256 years ago, on this day in 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the “Federalist Papers” and fourth president of the United States, is born on a plantation in Virginia.
Madison graduated from the College of William and Mary then distinguished himself as a graduate student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a then four-year masters degree course of study in two years.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/12208/2000937543598222764_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000937543598222764)
Madison returned to Virginia with intellectual accolades but poor health in 1771. By 1776, he was sufficiently recovered to serve for three years in the legislature of the new state of Virginia, where he came to know and admire Thomas Jefferson. In this capacity, he assisted with the drafting of the Virginia Declaration of Religious Freedom and the critical decision for Virginia to cede its western claims to the Continental Congress.
Madison is best remembered for his critical role in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where he presented his plan to the assembled delegates in Philadelphia and oversaw the difficult process of negotiation and compromise that led to the drafting of the final Constitution.
http://aycu39.webshots.com/image/13358/2000973914121728620_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000973914121728620)
More than anyone else, Madison developed the Constitutional system of "checks and balances" we have all come to appreciate.
Madison’s published “Notes on the Convention” are considered the most detailed and accurate account of what occurred in the closed-session debates. (Madison forbade the publishing of his notes until all the participants were deceased.)
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/12132/2000986459671314771_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000986459671314771)
Madison leading debate in the Constitutional convention
After the Constitution was submitted to the people for ratification, Madison collaborated with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton on “The Federalist Papers,” a series of pamphlets that argued for the acceptance of the new government. Madison penned the most famous of the pamphlets, “Federalist No. 10,” which made an incisive argument for the ability of a large federation to preserve individual rights.
In 1794, Madison married a young widow, Dolley Payne Todd, who would prove to be Washington, D.C.’s finest hostess during Madison’s years as secretary of state to the widowed Thomas Jefferson and then as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/12353/2000908401102174076_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000908401102174076)
James and his main squeeze, Dolley. BTW, in her day, most folks thought she was smokin'
Dolley Madison earned a special place in the nation’s memory for saving a portrait of George Washington before fleeing the burning White House during the War of 1812.
The War of 1812 tested Madison’s presidency. The Federalists staunchly opposed Madison’s declaration of war against the British and threatened to secede from the union during the Harford Convention. When the new nation managed to muster a tenuous victory, the Federalist Party was destroyed as America’s status as a nation apart from Britain was secured.
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.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/12582/2000933120497712044_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000933120497712044)
James Madison late in life
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.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/13404/2000904150673602981_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000904150673602981)
James Madison University. Home of the "Dukes."
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/11996/2000968936073659322_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000968936073659322)
JMU's main administration building
Madison's estate gets some upgrades
Thursday, March 15, 2007
MONTPELIER STATION (AP)--
Tomorrow is James Madison's birthday. So everyone gets into his place for free this one day.
Madison won't be there -- after all, the man would be 256 years old -- but it's still worth going.
The Montpelier Foundation is unveiling a slick new $8.8 million visitor center, which includes a small museum, theater, a café -- and a wing devoted to the duPont family who lived later in Madison's home.
The latter is a nice touch, given that all traces of the duPonts are being obliterated from the mansion. But that's OK, too. Even the duPonts agree.
Madison, who later became the nation's fourth president, worked on the U.S. Constitution here. The property was in his family from his grandfather's purchase in 1732 until his widow, Dolley, sold it in 1844. The Madisons grew tobacco and other crops on the 2,650-acre property, with work being done by slaves.
Five later families owned the land before William and Annie duPont of the family that founded the DuPont Co. bought it in 1901, converting it to a country estate. Their daughter, Marion duPont Scott, later made it an internationally recognized equestrian center. She willed it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1983.
The various owners changed the home dramatically after Madison's death, moving interior walls and even placing stucco over the brick exterior. After duPont took over, he expanded the 22-room, 12,500 foot structure to a 55-room, 31,000-square-footer.
The massive pink stucco mansion appeared more at home in Miami Beach.
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/13125/2000952210079857494_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000952210079857494)
Exterior of Montpelier before removal of the contemporary pink stucco
http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/12911/2000976098764782230_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000976098764782230)
Montpelier undergoing restoration, with its original brick exterior exposed once again
Fortunately, Scott requested in her will that it be returned to its appearance at Madison's time. All 41 adult duPont heirs have agreed.
That $23 million, four-year "back to Madison" renovation will be complete next year, said Michael C. Quinn, president of the Montpelier Foundation.
Meanwhile, the 15,000-square-foot visitor center and duPont gallery will open, replacing a small center that had been housed in an old general store across state Route 20 from the estate.
The center will include a 60-seat theater for an orientation film, plus a small "Treasures of Montpelier" museum housing such artifacts as Dolley's engagement ring, and James' spyglass, pocket knife and a bound volume with copies of state constitutions.
Workers were putting together displays yesterday.
The adjacent duPont Gallery features a "Grand Salon" with duPont-owned fireplaces and a French chandelier.
It also includes a striking "Red Room" -- an art deco room of chrome, mirrors, glass, photographs and equestrian mementos. The room has been lifted in its entirety from the mansion.
Tomorrow's festivities include, at 1 p.m., the annual laying of wreaths on Madison's grave by about 15 groups. Among them will be a Marine honor guard -- Madison founded the Marines -- and former Virginia Gov. Gerald L. Baliles. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will follow at the visitor center. Montpelier is keeping secret "special guests" that should add to the festivities.
"This is a very significant step in our vision," Quinn said of tomorrow's opening, as will be the completion of the restoration.
"Our aim is to make Montpelier a top-level national visitation site."
It deserves to be. Within that home, Madison engaged in deeper thought about the practical application of American democracy and defining our democratic norms than any other human being before or since.
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/12886/2001809713479712495_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001809713479712495)
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/10836/2000969253703680913_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000969253703680913)
Wartime president and Father or our Constitution. At 5 feet, 4 inches in height and 100 pounds, Madison was the nation’s shortest and lightest president
256 years ago, on this day in 1751, James Madison, drafter of the Constitution, recorder of the Constitutional Convention, author of the “Federalist Papers” and fourth president of the United States, is born on a plantation in Virginia.
Madison graduated from the College of William and Mary then distinguished himself as a graduate student at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), where he successfully completed a then four-year masters degree course of study in two years.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/12208/2000937543598222764_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000937543598222764)
Madison returned to Virginia with intellectual accolades but poor health in 1771. By 1776, he was sufficiently recovered to serve for three years in the legislature of the new state of Virginia, where he came to know and admire Thomas Jefferson. In this capacity, he assisted with the drafting of the Virginia Declaration of Religious Freedom and the critical decision for Virginia to cede its western claims to the Continental Congress.
Madison is best remembered for his critical role in the Constitutional Convention of 1787, where he presented his plan to the assembled delegates in Philadelphia and oversaw the difficult process of negotiation and compromise that led to the drafting of the final Constitution.
http://aycu39.webshots.com/image/13358/2000973914121728620_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000973914121728620)
More than anyone else, Madison developed the Constitutional system of "checks and balances" we have all come to appreciate.
Madison’s published “Notes on the Convention” are considered the most detailed and accurate account of what occurred in the closed-session debates. (Madison forbade the publishing of his notes until all the participants were deceased.)
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/12132/2000986459671314771_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000986459671314771)
Madison leading debate in the Constitutional convention
After the Constitution was submitted to the people for ratification, Madison collaborated with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton on “The Federalist Papers,” a series of pamphlets that argued for the acceptance of the new government. Madison penned the most famous of the pamphlets, “Federalist No. 10,” which made an incisive argument for the ability of a large federation to preserve individual rights.
In 1794, Madison married a young widow, Dolley Payne Todd, who would prove to be Washington, D.C.’s finest hostess during Madison’s years as secretary of state to the widowed Thomas Jefferson and then as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817.
http://aycu34.webshots.com/image/12353/2000908401102174076_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000908401102174076)
James and his main squeeze, Dolley. BTW, in her day, most folks thought she was smokin'
Dolley Madison earned a special place in the nation’s memory for saving a portrait of George Washington before fleeing the burning White House during the War of 1812.
The War of 1812 tested Madison’s presidency. The Federalists staunchly opposed Madison’s declaration of war against the British and threatened to secede from the union during the Harford Convention. When the new nation managed to muster a tenuous victory, the Federalist Party was destroyed as America’s status as a nation apart from Britain was secured.
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.
http://aycu23.webshots.com/image/12582/2000933120497712044_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000933120497712044)
James Madison late in life
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.
http://aycu05.webshots.com/image/13404/2000904150673602981_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000904150673602981)
James Madison University. Home of the "Dukes."
http://aycu37.webshots.com/image/11996/2000968936073659322_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000968936073659322)
JMU's main administration building
Madison's estate gets some upgrades
Thursday, March 15, 2007
MONTPELIER STATION (AP)--
Tomorrow is James Madison's birthday. So everyone gets into his place for free this one day.
Madison won't be there -- after all, the man would be 256 years old -- but it's still worth going.
The Montpelier Foundation is unveiling a slick new $8.8 million visitor center, which includes a small museum, theater, a café -- and a wing devoted to the duPont family who lived later in Madison's home.
The latter is a nice touch, given that all traces of the duPonts are being obliterated from the mansion. But that's OK, too. Even the duPonts agree.
Madison, who later became the nation's fourth president, worked on the U.S. Constitution here. The property was in his family from his grandfather's purchase in 1732 until his widow, Dolley, sold it in 1844. The Madisons grew tobacco and other crops on the 2,650-acre property, with work being done by slaves.
Five later families owned the land before William and Annie duPont of the family that founded the DuPont Co. bought it in 1901, converting it to a country estate. Their daughter, Marion duPont Scott, later made it an internationally recognized equestrian center. She willed it to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1983.
The various owners changed the home dramatically after Madison's death, moving interior walls and even placing stucco over the brick exterior. After duPont took over, he expanded the 22-room, 12,500 foot structure to a 55-room, 31,000-square-footer.
The massive pink stucco mansion appeared more at home in Miami Beach.
http://aycu06.webshots.com/image/13125/2000952210079857494_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000952210079857494)
Exterior of Montpelier before removal of the contemporary pink stucco
http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/12911/2000976098764782230_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2000976098764782230)
Montpelier undergoing restoration, with its original brick exterior exposed once again
Fortunately, Scott requested in her will that it be returned to its appearance at Madison's time. All 41 adult duPont heirs have agreed.
That $23 million, four-year "back to Madison" renovation will be complete next year, said Michael C. Quinn, president of the Montpelier Foundation.
Meanwhile, the 15,000-square-foot visitor center and duPont gallery will open, replacing a small center that had been housed in an old general store across state Route 20 from the estate.
The center will include a 60-seat theater for an orientation film, plus a small "Treasures of Montpelier" museum housing such artifacts as Dolley's engagement ring, and James' spyglass, pocket knife and a bound volume with copies of state constitutions.
Workers were putting together displays yesterday.
The adjacent duPont Gallery features a "Grand Salon" with duPont-owned fireplaces and a French chandelier.
It also includes a striking "Red Room" -- an art deco room of chrome, mirrors, glass, photographs and equestrian mementos. The room has been lifted in its entirety from the mansion.
Tomorrow's festivities include, at 1 p.m., the annual laying of wreaths on Madison's grave by about 15 groups. Among them will be a Marine honor guard -- Madison founded the Marines -- and former Virginia Gov. Gerald L. Baliles. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will follow at the visitor center. Montpelier is keeping secret "special guests" that should add to the festivities.
"This is a very significant step in our vision," Quinn said of tomorrow's opening, as will be the completion of the restoration.
"Our aim is to make Montpelier a top-level national visitation site."
It deserves to be. Within that home, Madison engaged in deeper thought about the practical application of American democracy and defining our democratic norms than any other human being before or since.
http://aycu07.webshots.com/image/12886/2001809713479712495_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001809713479712495)