Madison James

Madison

, James 1751-1836.

The fourth president of the United States (1809-1817). A member of the Continental Congress (1780-1783) and the Constitutional Convention (1787), he strongly supported ratification of the Constitution and was a contributor to The Federalist Papers (1787-1788), which argued for the effectiveness of the proposed constitution. His presidency was marked by the War of 1812.

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Mad′i·so′ni·an (-sō′nē-ən) adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.