Back again today with another Presidential birthday, today we celebrate our tiniest, most anti-war, nerdiest president, number four, James Madison.
We had owl mail this morning, and with so many presidents in a row I was trying to mix things up a bit. Today they got some packets on the War of 1812, and some things about the Star Spangled Banner (which was written during Madison's presidency).
Funny how James Madison's birthday falls the day after Andrew Jackson. These crazy kids could not have been more different. So, James Madison (Jr.) was born in Virginia and was the oldest of 11 kids. But, his parents had some serious money, and a huge plantation. His family was the largest land owner in the whole county, and as we know land = money.
And money = elite schools and all the privileges that came with that. Which was good for James, because he was a nerd, and to make matters even worse for him he was a tiny nerd. He was our smallest President weighing MAYBE 100 pounds, and being just over 5 feet tall. His friends said he was "no bigger than a half a bar of soap". And yes, that's half a bar of sop next to James Madison. I'm big on visuals people.
So James goes off to college, because he's rich, and that's what rich guys do. And he joins the nerdiest club on campus- the poetry/debate club. James, well, he was the nerdiest kid in the nerdiest club on campus. He wasn't even that good with poetry either. He once ended one of his poems calling his club members smelly. That was the best insult he could sling, "you guys stink". But James used his nerdiness to his advantage. He studied hard, like sleep only four hours a night for two years so he can graduate early, hard.
The natural progression after college was politics. Unlike every other president we've learned about, James never had a career outside of politics. He headed off to the Virginia legislature, where he met some guy you might have heard of, Thomas Jefferson. These two were BFF's. They even got arrested together. Yes, the only slightly interesting (his only let-loose-moment) thing about James Madison is that he was once arrested with TJ in Vermont. Except, they weren't arrested for anything cool like stealing outhouses in the middle of the night (here's looking at you, Andrew Jackson). They were out STUDYING PLANTS TOGETHER. But, they were riding in a carriage on a Sunday, and apparently that was illegal. Like how some states have random laws like how it's illegal to carry an ice cream cone in your back pocket or something crazy like that. But, the two aren't remembered for their time in the slammer. They worked together to maintain religious freedom, and a bunch of other boring stuff. I can't even talk about how the valiantly crossed the Delaware during the Revolutionary War. Nope, they stayed and wrote stuff while George Washington was kicking the British army's butt.
With the business of the Revolutionary War behind them, James Madison (who had been in the Confederation Congress) wanted a seat in the Senate. Standing in his way was another guy you might have heard of, Patrick Henry. And Madison, who was as soft spoken as they come, and hadn't been impressive in his debate club at Princeton would have to debate the 'Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death' guy. But Madison must have learned a thing or to from his time in politics since graduation, and he held his own, earning himself a Senate seat.
So, lets talk about the business of making a country. Before the Constitution, we had the Articles of Confederation. Congress had written the Articles of Confederation during the Revolutionary War. It established a confederation of sovereign states, with a weak central government, and even though it gave some sense of a unified government, states just started doing whatever they wanted, and on top of that Congress had no power to tax. Lets face it, nobody likes paying taxes, but we get why we do. This was a problem particularly after the war, as Congress couldn't pay it's debts. Madison, along with his friends Alexander Hamilton (the $10 bill guy), and George Washington feared a break-up of the Union and national bankruptcy.
And so the original plan was to just update the Articles of Confederation, but James Madison had other ideas for this brand new country. He wanted to start all over with the Constitution, creating a U.S. Federal Government. He even helped write it.
But, the states weren't sold on this idea. James Madison used his power of persuasion and wrote essays (because that was his solution, I'll just go ahead and write an ESSAY to convince you), called the Federalist Papers. (Full disclosure, I'm pretty sure this isn't EXACTLY what the Federalist Papers said, but you get the point.) Oh, and the people for the Constitution, they were Federalists, the people against it, well they were Anti-Federalists. And that was about the extent of 'political parties' during the early days of our country.
And by his WRITING OF ESSAYS (total nerd), James Madison convinces a country to become a country. And the states one by one ratify the Constitution. You might remember good old John Hancock from a few time lines we've done, and he made another appearance, along with the only two presidents to sign the Constitution: George Washington (remember he was the FIRST person to sign it), and James Madison.
James Madison kept writing though, and helped put together the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments, you knew that though, right? RIGHT?). So, you might say he peaked early
So James does all that, and he's like 40-something, and he meets Dolley (introduced to him by Aaron Burr no less!). Dolley has been married before and had two kids, but her husband and youngest son died from that pesky yellow fever breakout. James was taken with her right away, and took to her son, Payne. James was back in Virginia, but his BFF was about to be the third president of the United States. And when your BFF is the President, you get some perks. So, TJ made James his Secretary of State, and Dolley did all the First Lady duties for TJ since his wife had died. The White House had been completed during John Adam's presidency, but Dolly helped TJ decorate it, and put all the finishing touches on the place. Everyone loved Dolley, he was the social butterfly of Washington.
And so, when TJ retires after 8 years, the obvious choice for President was James Madison (it's 1809 if you're wondering about dates, but really, who cares about the boring business of dates). Madison ended up beating George Clinton handily, but Clinton became his VP (Which was the last time the loser because the VP, because I really can't think of a worse idea than forcing two opponents in an election to run the country together.) Luckily for Madison, Clinton died in office. Problem solved. And Dolley finally got to live in the house she helped finish and decorate. She was even more popular as First Lady. She added popularity to James Madison, and um, brought ice cream into the White House (and who doesn't love ice cream?!)
His first term went pretty smooth until the whole War of 1812 thing. Madison was all 'hey, guys, lets not go to war with the British again?', and those jerks John C. Calhoun and Henry Clay (making yet ANOTHER appearance in the toy time) were all Yay War Hawks! Lets go to war!
So, if you don't know the whole War of 1812 thing, that's ok. I wasn't super familiar with it before I started teaching history to Peyton a few years ago. So, here's the rundown; basically Britain and France were having their own tiff. And we wanted nothing more to stay out of it. We kept trading with both countries, Britain was pissed about that and started taking our ships and capturing our men and making them fight for the British in their war against France. Canada got involved too, but you know, it's Canada, so who cares? But, after trying EVERYTHING to not to go war, James Madison (again, probably the most anti-war president we've ever had) was forced into what some called the Revolutionary War, part two. Of course you can google it, but that's the nut shell version. And, you know, war time you don't change presidents. So, Madison is elected again, this time with new VP Elbridge Gerry. He's not important at all though, I'm only telling you this because he ALSO died in office. Madison is the only guy to have both his VPs die in office. Conspiracy? I'd think so, if it was anyone other than boring-follow all the rules-except riding carriages on Sunday-James Madison.
The war wasn't going all that well for us, it was clear our little baby of a country was outmatached, but Britian wasn't really gaining all that much ground either. It took a dark turn in 1814 when the British stormed D.C. and set it on fire.
That meanie Captain Hook in his red coat! Dolley ran around the White House that she had personally decorated and got all the important papers she could, and a painting of George Washington. James Madison, who had never fired a gun before, grabbed two pistols, jumped on a horse and headed out.
After that, the British were off to Fort McHenry in Baltimore so Francis Scott Key could go ahead and write the Star Spangled Banner. I'm pretty sure that was their intended purpose at least.
A couple months later a homeless Congress returned, and there was talk of moving the Capitol back to Philidelphia since it had been so badly burned, and the already cash-strapped government wasn't sure they could deal with a costly reconstruction. Madison and his buddies decided to rebuild, and so the Capital would stay in D.C. (It was a really close vote by Congress though!)
But, even with all this, neither side seemed to be gaining much ground. On Christmas Eve, American and British envoys in Ghent Belgium signed the treaty to end the war (and probably ate a bunch of waffles, when in Belgium!), essentially making it a draw. The war was over, but Andrew Jackson hadn't gotten the memo yet, there he was nearly two weeks later fighting the British in the Battle of New Orleans, making a hero out of him for no particular reason.
Madison retired after his eight years, and headed back to his tobacco plantation not too far from his BFF, TJ. The two reunited to form the University of Virginia. But, James got weird and obsessive over his writings in later years. He thought things could have been written better and started changing things. He'd changed dates and white out whole paragraphs. He even forged some writings in TJ's handwriting. So, that's a little crazy.
He died at the age of 85. At that time he was the last person alive who had signed the Constitution. He's buried at his estate in Virginia. His last words, "I talk better laying down." Apparently not. Madison is largely remembered for his contributions to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He's less remembered for his actual presidency. Totally peaked early. And really, I don't know how well he is remembered. I mean EVERYONE knows the first three presidents, but then there's a pretty steep drop off. I wonder if he would have been jealous of his BFF's place in history.
The last couple presidents we've been watching PBS's 'President Recaps in 60 seconds'. It's a pretty cool way to show them everything I just taught them in 60 seconds. And, it's not all PBS-y and boring, it's pretty entertaining actually.
I try to really mix up our activities with the Presidents, especially when so many fall in a row. We did a science experiement yesterday, and I had an art project on tap for later. I had found a fun little play about the War of 1812, so everyone took some parts.
Then it was time for birthday cards.....
I had planned for ice cream today, since Dolley Madison first served it in the White House, and James Madison was a fan. But, it happened to coincide with DQ's free cone day, bonus!
We added all our props from the toy timeline to the board, and I made some fun drawings at the boy's suggestions.
I like his quote of "Philosophy is common sense with big words". And yes, we put the bar of soap up there.
Other fun facts about James Madison:
He was the first president to wear pants (not those weird pant like things)
Wrote George Washington's first inaugural address
Was related to GW: He was George's wife's sisters second husbands nephew
Had burn out: Spent four months at his estate in Virginia when he had enough of D.C.
And he's on the $5,000 Bill (or was, when it was still in circulation)
Of course we added to our historical hashtags.
This one his directed at his buddy, Thomas Jefferson (who almost assuredly would have had a screen name like @BigTJ) "Can I crash with you? #FireInDC #BFFs"
Dinner was Bouilli, it wasn't super easy to find Madison's food tastes beyond ice cream, but this was once served at one of his state dinners. It was really, really good actually (and it even had a turnip in it!)
We had one other activity today, as we're prepping for Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow by making some festive shirts.
First, we printed out a shamrock and cut it out. Then, we traced it on the non shiny side of freezer paper and cut it out.
Then we ironed the shamrocks shiny side down onto the shirts.
We got our our fabric paint and some brand new pencils.
Then you just go around the freezer paper dotting along the freezer paper. Oh, and stick paper or something in the shirt so you don't end up with the paint bleeding to the back of the shirt.
You can go out as far as you want, making them fade out. Really, I just let the boys have at it. (Peyton for some reason HATES art projects; he's too much of a perfectionist for them, and I always have to give him pep talks)
After the dried we peeled off the freezer paper, and ta-da!
One other side note: Sometimes my kids get along really well. Today was one of those days. I found them all together in our room watching TV. Aren't they cute?
Next Up: So here's the deal, it's obviously Saint Patricks Day tomorrow, so I have some things planned for the boys. But, Wednesday is our Florida anniversary. It's also Grover Cleveland's birthday. Since GC was our 22nd AND 24th president though, I figured I was going to half his day, so we celebrate it twice and put it on either side of his birthday (allowing us to do our usual Florida anniversary stuff). So tomorrow, we'll have a bit of Grover Cleveland and Saint Patricks Day. But, I am going to hold off Cleveland's blog and put it all together on Thursday. That might have been confusing, but there ya go.
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