Born March 16, 1751, James Madison was 36 years old when state delegates met in Philadelphia in 1787 to draft the Constitution of the United States. The principal author of the Constitution, Madison’s ideas and powers of persuasion throughout the process gave us our system of governance and led to him being known as the “father of the U.S. Constitution.”

Madison co-authored -- with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton -- the Federalist Papers, served in the U.S. House of Representatives, as President Jefferson’s Secretary of State and was elected the fourth President of the United States.